HANTE I broke away from the pressure you have as an artist to appeal to a certain type of audience, to create dance floor hits. Minimal wave, or synth wave if you prefer, is doing well. Think of Zanias, Selofan, Kaelan Mikla, Lebanon Hanover, NNHMN...And let's not forget the two projects byHélène De Thoury, both ofwhich are among the best in this genre: the duo Minuit Machine and her solo project Hante. The first group has released two EPs during the lockdown, the solo project has just released a new record: ‘Morning Tsunami’. Hélène will also present that record live on October 2 in De Klinker in Aarschot, thanks to the organization Into The Dark.Reason enough to have a conversationwith DeThoury. Hi Hélène. We are very impressed with your new Hante record: ‘Morning Tsunami’. You described this record as your ‘most accomplished and inspiredwork to date’. Inwhat sense is this work an evolution fromyour previous records? Hallo! First of all thank you very much! Something happened that I can't explain when I was composing ‘Morning Tsunami’. It was as if I was really one with the music, that it was an extension of me. I had never felt this way before. I think that with everything that has happened in the past year, some deeply hidden emotions have surfaced and triggered new feelings that I had to get out.There was also the desire not to make any concessions in terms of style, production, visuals. I broke away from the pressure you have as an artist to appeal to a certain type of audience, to create dance floor hits. I've also moved away from the classic stanza/chorus construction. Most songs are built up progressively and sometimes it takes a long time before theyget going.I knewit could be a risk,that people would be less moved or would not find themselves in the songs. I tested new ways of working, using new plugins, new virtual synths. I renewed my range of sounds. In the end I was rewarded for taking this risk as the reception was extraordinary! Can you tell us more about the title'Morning Tsunami'? I was looking for a very personal title to accompany the album. I quickly thought of ‘Tsunami’ because it is a word that I find both very beautiful and which frightens me. It's a recurring nightmare I have.I am on a beach or in a city and a huge wave is coming in the distance.And there is no way to escape it. I've associated the word ‘morning’ with it because I often have these kind of nightmares when I return to sleep in the morning.It is a very special moment,between two worlds.This was already a very important theme on my album ‘Between www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be - 22 - Hope & Danger’: the search for those moments when it is possible to escape reality, which unfortunately always comes back to us. All lyrics on ‘Morning Tsunami’ are yours. Don’t you feel the need to approach other people to write lyrics anymore, like you did on'FIERCE'or with your other bandMinuit Machine? I would rather say the opposite, that sometimes I find it necessary to be able to write my own story, to express the emotions in words myself. And that's one of the reasons I created Hante.When I started composing ‘FIERCE’, it had been 2 years since Amandine and I stopped playing in Minuit Machine. I wanted to rediscover the creative inertia you have when you compose a song with several people. That's why I invited several artists to write and sing lyrics on the album. But nowthat we've restartedMinuit Machine,I'mhappy to find this hidden, private garden of Hante and to be able to fully express myself through this project. I really like thewayyou sing in both French and English.Was it something that came naturally or was it a preconceived idea? Howdoyou determinewhether a textwill be in French or in English? Strangely enough, the lyrics come to me more easily in English. I have the impression that you can convey a very strong idea with just a fewwords in English.While that's more complicated in French, I think. But it remains my native language and I feel the need to include it in my musical project because I want it tomatchme 100%.Sometimes,when I have a first impression of a text in French, I seize the opportunity and explore it to the end. The album‘Morning Tsunami’was made in COVID times. Has the lockdown affected your work? Of course! As I said,this period has stirred up a lot of emotions and that has inspiredme enormously.The lockdown,the sense of helplessness, the sadness and fear that the world was plunged into… But it wasn't all negative, I have questioned myself thoroughly, like many people, and there is inevitably a before and an after in our personal developments. I also took a lot of time to be inspired, to listen to a lot of music and to discover projects that greatly influenced me in the making of the record, such as the album‘Unreleased Tracks’by Kas:st.
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