A new dawn, Julian Collet steps into the spotlight. The days of working hidden behind aliases, looking for his musical identity, are over. After a decade of roaming through electronic music, he now distils the essence of what is Julian Collet. Every song is a part of him. No genre-boundaries. No limits. Here he tells us more…
Thank you for taking your time for this interview, to kick off, can you give us a little background on who you are and what lead you down the path of music production?
My pleasure! Actually, it all started out with me playing the guitar at the age of 6. I quickly discovered that music really was my thing and put as much effort into it as I could. When I was 15, I had this experience that a lot of music professionals have somewhere down the road. I listened to „Get This Feeling“ By Fedde Le Grand and was blown away. I instantly knew that this was what I wanted to do. From there it was just me teaching myself about electronic music, trying to find my way and sound.
So how would you describe your style to someone who has not heard your music before?
It’s hard to put it in a box, really. You can clearly hear my house and techno roots but melted with electronica and indie vibes. It’s kind of a journey through electronic music paired with live elements like the guitar, lots of percussion and some vocals here and there.
How has the last 24 months been for you dealing with the global pandemic? What impact did it have on your music creation process?
In 2020 I had severe writer’s block. I couldn’t get anything done in about a year. Not being able to have concerts was a big issue for me because seeing the artists I admire live is always a reminder of why I do all of this. When everything around us calmed down all of a sudden, I was forced to question myself and my musical approaches and took a new turn that finally led me to be creative again.
There’s a quality to your production that makes me think you’d be great for film scores. Would you ever be interested to score a movie soundtrack? If you could pick any film, what would it be and why?
Oh, thank you! That’s a very generous thing to say. With my music, I always try to spark emotions in people, and move them in whatever way they feel touched. So scoring to picture, where it’s ALL about musically infusing emotion into the viewer, is something I find highly intriguing. When thinking about electronic music scores „The Social Network“ instantly comes to my mind, but since in my opinion, this is one of the greatest electronic music scores of all time, I’m glad it’s scored exactly the way it is!
You have a new single out called ‘Give Me Something’. Please tell us a little about the tracks and how you created them in your studio?
So my studio is based on the analogue creation of sounds. Be it with synthesizers or acoustic instruments. Normally you’ll hear a lot of Juno60 and Moog going on in my productions, as well as percussion which is very noticeable in „Give Me Something“. I have an assortment of shakers, bells etc. (some bought, some self-made) that you can almost all hear on there. The special thing on this track is that there is one digital synth on there. I got my hands on a ProphetVS from the 80s and had a jam on it that was insanely inspiring. That’s what you hear doing the rhythmic pads in the breaks.
Finally, I invited singer/composer krøll, who I deeply admire, to come to my studio. We wrote the topline together and she went straight ahead and layered her vocals onto my production.
And what is your current studio setup? Any notable studio gear that you simply can’t leave alone, or which is always a feature in your music-making?
Ok, I already gave some hints, I have some analogue synths like the Juno60 and my beloved Moog. An Odyssey and a PolyD also. Oh, and my guitar through an EH Hog synth pedal is always living inside every production that I do. Together with percussion and my own or someone else’s voice, that’s pretty much the foundation of my music.
I would love to! I have locked myself in to finish the EP recently and focused on shooting a stunning live performance video inside a printing plant that we just finished. That took a good amount of my energy. But a lot of people tell me that my music has a certain „live“ vibe to it plus I can’t wait to be reconnecting with people again. So playing concerts is definitely on the top of my list.
Besides your own music, what kind of music do you listen to?
I’m pretty open-minded. And I need to be. Because listening to other genres of music is a big tool for me to refuel my creativity. As long as it’s quality music and most importantly genuine, I love a lot of different stuff. From Pop over Jazz and Classical, Rock and especially Funk. But recently my head is stuck in the new Bonobo album, that one really got me.
So, are there any artists who inspire you and if so, why?
So, Bonobo obviously, haha. He is such an inspiration bringing electronic music live on stage for, like, forever. British band „Jungle“ are always on my radio and the French guys of „Phoenix“ never cease to amaze me. Last but not least Swedish House Mafia is an act I need to mention, being a full-force inspiration since 2010 on how to invent the pulse of electronic music, constantly evolving, but always staying true to themselves.
Any teases on what’s coming in the future?
I had some very interesting sessions recently and there’s very yummy stuff on the stove. Nothing I can share yet, though. It’s been some time after my first EP „Part I“finally release ‘Part II’ but there has been a massive journey with so many great people being a part of it, artists and audience. So there’s definitely something coming.
Julian, thank you for your time, it’s been a pleasure!
Thanks for having me!
