There aren’t many artistic collaborations like Lucy, Racquel and Me. Their songs are one of the best storytellers and emotional companions I’ve had the chance listen to lately, merging the romanticism of the ’80s with sanzon and with modern rhythms often including unusual chords and gloomy lyrics – just to find joy in another one. So, Lucy, Racquel and Me (LRaM) is something you need to listen to completely, not just one or two songs, to grasp the whole scope of their artistic universe. Here, we have a very sincere interview about being an artist these years, idols, challenges and ideas in and beyond music. Well worthy of your time!
And while you are at it, listen to LRaM’s Until here – this one is one of my personal favourite:
Music Authentic: At Music Authentic, I like beginning with this question: How did you sleep last night?
Me (from LRaM): I slept very well, thank you. I am extraordinarily lucky that I don’t get much sleep, 5 to 6 hours of sleep is enough for me, which leaves me more time for the music. Another peculiarity of my sleep is that I never remember my dreams, so I never have nightmares.
Music Authentic: And what did you cook? Please, don’t tell me it was a ratatouille or a croissant!
Me (from LRaM): I know, I’m going to disappoint a lot of you but even though I’m French, I’m totally incompetent in this field and since I’m lucky enough to live in the company of a real cordon bleu, I don’t make any effort, yes I know it’s bad. On last night’s menu, french fries and fish, delicious
Music Authentic: How have your lives changed as a band -I know, you prefer “longtime collaboration”- during these changing and challenging times? What has been the hardest?
Me (from LRaM): In reality, the lockdown and this new social organization has changed absolutely nothing for us as a band. Our lives have been turned upside down, of course, as for everyone else, but no impact on our music since social distancing is our daily life, several thousand kilometers already separating us from each other. We don’t have daily contact, exchange only by email, so apart from inquiring about each other’s health and that of our families, and making sure that everything was fine and everyone was safe, nothing has changed.
Music Authentic: You live in different parts of the world, yet forming an artistic unity, in a similar way to what Yello had. How can you manage the dynamics in the group? Even The Queen had their fair share of dramas…
Me (from LRaM): This is not an easy task. We don’t really know each other, we’re not really friends, just people who share the same project. The dynamic is different because we each have our own well-defined roles that are spread out over time. Usually, it starts from a text by Lucy, I compose the music, mostly on ukulele, then I record a quick demo that I send to Racquel to know the wished key. Then I recruit musicians to put in color what I dream in black and white. I receive the different tracks of each, Racquel included, and I send to the mix.
Remains to be promoted, so I am in charge too , mainly through Twitter. The role of each of us is therefore limited in time and task. No drama, no difficulties, just confidence in the talent of each one of us. And at the end a surprise for Lucy and Racquel when the final result is achieved.
Music Authentic: Your new song “Dawn” is a little bit differs from your previous works such as “On day like this” or “Millions Out There” which are more of like musical theatre and others like “Until” which is merging the vibe of the ‘80s French romantic movies (looking at you Sophie Marceou) and soundscape of the Bangles with some British rock guitars. Do you like experimenting?
Me (from LRaM): For me, each song is totally independent from the previous or following ones, the only unity is Racquel’s voice. The Beatles’ white album is my major influence, its eclecticism is my horizon. And so we approached the blues – One day – the bossa nova, Silence for beginners, the sixties pastiche, What will I say?, folk music, Grey, Shattered, more dance-oriented tracks Mocha, Summer song, country, Home one day and so on. Songwriting is my passion, I spend a lot of time looking for the right orchestral direction for each track. The melody remains the strong point of our style of music, a scoop, our next track, probably early October, will be our most rocking one so far.
Music Authentic: What’s your take on Machine Learning and the upcoming actual AI? Will musicians, artists ever be obsolete?
Me (from LRaM): Technology is there to help musicians, it will open new horizons, it already opens them, tools already allow to generate chord grids, bass lines, the generation of drum tracks has been accessible for a long time, the important thing is that the musician remains in control of the possible choices. It is likely that music per kilometer for supermarkets will come out of the artistic domain, but I can’t see an AI, however powerful it may be, touring and playing to full houses.
Music Authentic: Do you consider yourself an artist or a musician?
Me (from LRaM): Certainly not a musician. I can’t play any instrument well. I was a bass player in a rock band as a teenager, self-taught on drums and keyboards, my main instrument today is the ukulele but I wouldn’t be able to play a concert. This is not false modesty, I prefer composition to the mastery of an instrument. I have ideas and I use technology and the skills of real musicians to try to make them happen. As for being an artist… I am someone who expresses himself through art, so yes, probably,
Music Authentic: A lot of artists are struggling with wearing more and more hats just to get to the surface of recognition. Has it ever been an issue for you?
Me (from LRaM): This is clearly a problem. A lot of time, money, passion invests in what remains a hobby for most of us. I don’t think you can be good everywhere, composer, multi-instrumentalist musician, graphic designer, photographer, master in social networking, marketing, manager, accountant and so on. You have to surround yourself if your goal is professional. This is not my case. Of course, I would love our music to be more diffused, more appreciated, it would be easier to get even a hundred listenings, but it’s more a thirst for recognition, for love in a way than to be a rich and famous rock star. Money is not my driving force, even if I understand that for those who have chosen to make a living from this profession, it is obviously a sure sign of recognition. And on the other hand, this independence is a richness. nobody tells me if this or that song can be released on that date, if this cover is catchy enough, if these lyrics are going to touch people
Music Authentic: Nowadays streaming is owned by the very same industry which had doormen at radios and tv-s earlier, putting indie artists into an impossible situation. Have you ever felt promoting your music become almost like a door-to-door selling? Aren’t you hardened by it?
Me (from LRaM): When I was younger, making a record was an almost unattainable dream. There was no way that a small independent band could find their album in any record store in the world next to Taylor Swift’s. Today it’s possible. We would never have done this interview 20 years ago because you would never have known my music existed. Of course it’s always very difficult to get a large audience. but it was already the case before. what has changed is the possibility to publish music, I read I don’t know where 40 000 titles a day were put online daily, in front of these figures, not to be drowned in this mass, that already 150 people listen to us regularly is already a miracle, don’t you think? So it’s true, it’s a long term job, door to door as you say. 5,000 followers on Twitter and I’m struggling to reach the 200 listeners on spotify, but with more personal relationships with people, more direct, faithful listeners, human exchanges, and that’s a bit the goal of music before being a cash machine. As a great philosopher of the twentieth century wrote, “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one“. I try to see the positive side of things, even if I’m a pessimist at heart, and streaming seems to me to be an exceptional opportunity rather than a danger, but I remind you, because the nuance is important, I don’t have the ambition to make a living from my music.
Music Authentic: These days more and more people feel insecure about the everydays and the future. What about you, how do you think your life will be in a few years from now on? Are you more hopeful than earlier?
Me (from LRaM): Definitely not. Things are getting worse and worse, mankind is starting to pay for its past carelessness and I have little hope of improvement in sight, too many people too rich and too poor not enough love. I wrote a song in French a few years ago Sur la terre (on earth) the chorus said “et pourtant, y avait moyen de nous faire un paradis sur terre moins d’argent, un peu plus de sentiments que necessaire” and yet there was a way to make a paradise on earth less money a little more feeling than necessary https://sucrepop.bandcamp.com/track/sur-la-terre
Music Authentic: Your music has really great lyrics, sometimes ballads, sometimes feel-good pop and sometimes about heartache and uncertainty inside – and it’s rare. Do you think contemporary music is has become way too simplistic and especially lyrics are dumbing listeners down?
Me (from LRaM): It is Lucy the lyricist, all the credit goes to her and often listeners point out to me the quality of her texts. For my part, to my great shame, I don’t listen to the lyrics of the songs. I’m French, I learned English late, and for a long time I listened to music without fully understanding what was being said, or not at all. And I’ve kept this functioning, even on French songs. I can listen to a song 10 times and have no idea of its meaning, except for its title. The music, the melody, the voice timbre, the orchestration, the global atpmosphere that’s what holds my attention. From She loves you to Imagine, from Bob Dylan or Elvis Costello to Leonard Cohen the range of choices has always been wide making and especially distributing music has never been so easy, Mr. and Mrs. everyone can now broadcast the result of their work, whether or not they have talent it is likely that, proportionally, the number of lyrics or tasteless music is the same, but the panel is larger
Music Authentic: Let’s have some lighter tone questions! Would you rather live in the Earth in 20 years or be the part of the first Mars colony?
Me (from LRaM): I don’t have the soul of an adventurer, and I doubt that a colony on Mars needs a mediocre Ukulele player, was he composer younger, who knows… I am curious to know what human ingenuity will find to prevent the disaster, if it is still preventable. I have been part of the earth adventure so far, this is my home, I will not give up the ship now
Music Authentic: If you had a chance to play a superhero character in a movie or a series, whom would you choose?
Me (from LRaM): I read a lot of comics in my youth, but didn’t see most of the film/series. I guess Superman is the ultimate heroes, so let’s go with him.
Music Authentic: Whose story had a great effect on your life?
Me (from LRaM): I guess, my daily life is the story who has the most impact on me. What I do or don’t, whom I see/talk or don’t see/talk.
Music Authentic: Which artist do you recommend to listen to from the past or the contemporary era and why?
Me (from LRaM): Paul McCartney, definitively. His music has, literally, change my life, it embrace half a century, with so different kind of music, pop/rock of course, but electronic experimental, classical, his latest album, Egypt station is incredibly good, and he’s almost 80 years old.
Music Authentic: Some argues concept albums are over, others insist storytelling is still important. You have been making exceptionally unique, deep, personal and raw, versatile albums lately. What’s your take?
Me (from LRaM): Singles are more important to me than albums. Because lyrics are not so important to me. If I’m listening to a japanese album, I can appreciate it as an English one. Concept album are sometimes exceptional (Tommy, The wall) and great films were made of but that’s all. I can’t imagine trying to realize such a project for LRaM.
Music Authentic: What do you think the hardest challenges in society are these days?
Me (from LRaM): Health and ecological crisis, mistrust of politicians, women’s rights, poverty. Too much individualism
Music Authentic: What things have been the greatest achievements for you through your art so far and what else would you like to accomplish?
Me (from LRaM): I don’t think I have achieved anything at all. I write songs, the best I can do, sometimes one of theses songs touch someone, and that’s fine. Before LRaM, I had a unique project. Between January 1998 and 2013 -yes that long – I wrote, recorded a song and put it on line the first of each month, without missing one. Exhausting . There weren’t many of us at that time to broadcast music online, no spotify, bandcamp or Itunes. It was mostly collab’s with amateur singers. I even recorded an album of covers, Kinks, Al Stewart, XTC, Elvis Costello, Deep Purple, Status Quo, Klaatu… Bad result, but Fun to do. I had 2 songs on a short film for Le Festival de Cannes a few years ago. And would like to hear one of our song on a FM radio someday.
Music Authentic: What are you working now?
Me (from LRaM): The important thing is always the next track, it will be, by far, our most rock if I manage to materialize what I have in mind. And probably, apart from Lucy, Racquel and Me, try to do some collab, I’m thinking about it.
Music Authentic: How do you like spending your free time, what can really refresh you?
Me (from LRaM): Definitively a monomaniac. Songwriting is my way of living. Of course, I read books, see films, have a social life, a family, but free time is for music
Music Authentic: What is your message to encourage others?
Me (from LRaM): Make a wish and make it come true. Be positive.
Say Hello to Lucy, Racquel and Me on Twitter (click here)
Listen to Lucy, Racquel and Me on Spotify by clicking here
Another great interview with one of my favorites. I must disagree with Me on the “I don’t think I’ve archieved anything” question. Creating such beautiful music that really reaches people is an archievement. And I still can’t get “In Times Long Gone” out of my head. What I mean to say is – Lucy, Raquel and me are amazing and I really enjoyed reading this interview 🙂