Lucy, Racquel And Me | I Don't Write Down Anything In Regards to the Song

How did we all meet? In fact, we never meet. I mean, in real life. There are, literally, thousands of kilometers between the 3 of us, and hours and hours. At the minute I write these lines, it's the morning for Lucy in Australia, 7h48, early afternoon for Racquel, California 12h48, and it's almost time for bed for me, 21h48 :)

It all began because of Lucy :) Both of us were registered on a songwriting forum. I worked with another member, lyricist too, and I posted some songs recorded with a danish singer. I guess Lucy found those songs interesting enough to make contact with me. She sent some lyrics, I wrote some music, sent it to her, and that was it As Gabby, the danish singer wanted to work on her own songs, I start searching for an online a singer. Voice has always been the main instrument in my music, the key of all. I sent a song to Racquel, All true with just a piano and my voice she sang it, and how not to be convince by the result :)

Our typical songwriting process. Well, it works almost always this way. Lucy sends me some lyrics, Verse/Chorus/bridge ... Most of the time I write songs on ukulele, even if there are no trace of it after. So I search for some intriguing melody, something that I like. At this moment of this process, I don't write down anything in regards to the song. It's what I called The John and Paul method, because I read somewhere that they did it this way. If I don't remember it a few days later, then it was not a good song :) Once the chords and melody are fixed, I record a rough demo. Just a direction for the song, Will it be a bossa, a blues, a pop song, a folk one ? What will be the best tempo, I try different ways to find the one which suits the best to the song. Then I sing it and send it back to Lucy,It could be necessary to change a word or two, add a syllabel, delete a phrase ... once Lucy and I are ok with the demo, I send it to Racquel, asking her which key she'd like to sing it. Then I hire some musicians to give color to my black and white demo.

Once the main tracks are recorded, It's Racquel's turn to express talent and creativity. She sings the lead and backing vocals. As I love voices, and particularly her's of course, she can sing a lot of tracks and she sends me all of them. Then come the tims of the mix. I don't do it either, I get better people at it do it and et voilà. - a new song is born. How would we describe your sound to someone who had never heard your music before? It's clearly rooted in the seventies. If The Beatles are my main influences, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, The Wings, CSNY, America, The Eagles, Cat Stevens .. . are undeniably in it to. Emphasis on vocals, a strong melody, definitively soft rock. How do we all manage being in different time zones? It requires patience:) different time zone means there's a delay between a mail and the answer. But there's no hurry, no pressure, it takes the time needed to finish a song, one or two months between each. It allows to work at a different rhythm and try different ideas. Would any of us ever move to be with the other band members? Well it will be great to really see each other, it could be a little frustrating not to see the reaction when Lucy or Racquel discover the song for the first time, it lacks some time of interaction that could produce different but interesting things. Maybe I could go on holydays on California, Or Lucy visit Paris. But to move no, I don't think so. We have our lives, our day job, our children, In fact the only thing we have in common is our music, as we don't really know each other Will there be any tours in the foreseeable future? The only one needed to tour is Racquel :) If we have some success one day, who knows. But we are more a studio band than a live band, because of our particularity of course. What inspires the music you write? Lucy's lyrics. There is music in every text, the work of a composer is to find it. Sometimes it comes easily, effortless as if it writes itself. Sometimes it takes more times, it's never painful, or it won't be a good song, simply, it's not the right place, the right moment, the right mood. But, once I wrote some music on a text, it's finished. If it's not good, if Lucy doesn't like it, I'm not able to write another music on it. It works or never will. What's your favourite original song to date and why? It's always the one I just wrote, when it's still not totally a song, but no more a simple text. But, speaking of songs we recorded, maybe Millions out there. I fall in love with the text the minute I read it, the whole orchestral version gives it more power. A friend of mine, who wrote music for film asked me if he could write another orchestration for the song. Piano and orchestra and Racquel's voice. Brilliant. How does this album differ from the first? I'm not sure it differs so much, it's the continuity. My first idea was to call the album, the never ending album. besides, the track number are not from one to 6 but 12 to 17. I see this project like a long term project. I hope there will be a track number 100 one day. My reference ios the white album of the fab four. Eclecticism. So each song draw in its own universe. Bossa for Silence for beginners, Blues for one day, Folk with grey, sunshine pop (Hello Sunday) , the album don't differ, songs do :) What are our goals for this year? I hope that we can record 6 or seven new songs and that we gain some recognition. Our album is free to download on our website, even if they are available on all the usual places, because we need notoriety more than money :) I do think we write good songs, that deserve to be known. The point is not to became the next pop sensation, and disappear. We are here to stay, success or not, so take a listen, support us, share if you like, music is the key. Peace and blessing Phil for LRAM