Inspired by shades of rock and electronic music, the duo’s productions involve acoustic instruments and subtle organic touches.
Strengthened by multi-instrumental practice and music theory training, Pandhora has an unframed and eclectic approach to music composition.
– How are you guys doing with the latest lockdown, and where are you both based right now? And where would you head next as we slowly come out of lockdown?
We have been making a lot of music lately and can say it has been more positive than the opposite! In 2019, we had the chance to tour but couldn’t spend time in the studio doing what we love most: creating music. We can say with confidence that the past year was super productive! Currently Rémi is based in Montpellier, Southern France and Amine has been living a nomad life in Mexico. We have been discussing the option of spending time in Asia after summer.
– How challenging was it to construct a cohesive flow while being 1000s of kms apart?
When we started Pandhora, we were roommates for a year. After that we always worked apart using collaborative platforms like Splice & Google Drive. The workflow has always been smooth since we start projects together in the studio, jamming & sketching some ideas. When we’re apart, we take turns on arranging and mixing tracks. We enjoy the fact that we create through experimentation and each other’s feedback!
– What are your favourite tracks on this set, or particular phrase / transition, jam that we should keep an ear open for (We have definitely been enjoying this one on repeat).
It is difficult to choose a single track since it was thought of as a single piece but our little favorites are probably Roy Rosenfeld’s “Phase”, released on Lost & Found or Bross, Double Touch – Cielo (Fulltone Remix). Both are amazing in terms of music, sound design, and mix: which is music’s holy trinity for us.
– Tell us a little more about how you constructed the set, and some of the guitar and keyboard work that went into embellishing this already lush sounding set.
The process of creating a hybrid is quite exciting. We start by selecting some tracks from our promos & favorite labels. Then we decide on the final tracklist, based on the songs and ideas we could implement improvising on top of these. Once the tracklist is final and the mix recorded, we improvise with some instruments and then sound design them to fit each song. It usually involves different guitar sounds, virtual synthesizers, and sometimes vocal effects. After that, we mix the recordings to fit each song, so everything sounds glued together. We end our process with a light mastering step and some final tweaks as we listen to the whole thing a couple times. This set took us about 4 days of work and we’re quite happy about how it turned out!
– A Finnish friend of ours got excited hearing some Finnish goth metal band on there. What kind of music, particularly in other genres do you seek inspiration from? What’s the last most exciting non-electronic song/artist/album did you listen to?
We don’t come from an electronic music background. In fact, the total opposite. We enjoy listening to all kinds of music, from metal to pop music. We believe there’s beauty in all kinds of music and you can always learn something new on a producer level. We have always enjoyed rock, more precisely progressive & psychedelic rock. Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac are some influential artists for us. On a personal level, Amine grew up listening to classical music, blues & hard rock while Rémi was more into punk and hard rock. More recently we’ve been jamming to some 70’s playlists which would soundtrack big spaces road trips perfectly!
– Like most of us, we were all devastated at the news of Daft Punk’s Epilogue and exit from the stage. There was an outpouring of sadness and admiration and gratitude from many producers in the electronic music scene in particular. Were they a massive inspiration for you guys also, esp as fellow countrymen?
The Daft Punk’s separation appeared to us like a very symbolic moment in music history, more specifically electronic music. We have a huge admiration for this duo which completely reshaped how everyone thinks of music in the space. Who would believe that it’d be possible to make music with computers a couple of decades ago? Probably Max Mathews and John Chowning did, but not the general public for sure. Their music will keep on inspiring people and musicians alike which will drive creation and music forward.
– We are all impressed by the quality of music your label Art Vibes has been putting out in the last few years. How did that come about? What are you guys planning for the coming year, and can you tell us a bit more about the Montréal connection?
Art Vibes was founded in 2014 by friends who wished to release whichever music they wanted to. We didn’t have any ambition to release regularly or anything but after some years, when Rémi joined Art Vibes, we started thinking more & more about pushing artists we really believed in. We wanted to avoid sticking to a single genre of music. Especially because the spectrum of electronic music is super rich & abundant. That is the reason why Art Vibes releases evolve through seasons. In Winter, we focus on uptempo melodic music. When spring comes, we tend to release dreamy & progressive pieces. Over the summer, we focus on world music & downtempo. Finally in the Fall, we like to share deep & groovy tracks. We feel this is a good way to express the cycle of the seasons through music.
– You guys certainly did not have a creative slump in the last year with all the quality tracks that came out. I will admit some of them have been rinsed thoroughly on every given occasion from Amsterdam to Melbourne to Bali, Berlin and back. Was it easy to get into creative flows, or sustain it over the ‘Great Pause’ we have experienced?
2020 was definitely a good year for us! After 2019’s touring, we had a lot of experiences to absorb and put in music. Starting the lockdown, we had to create a new workflow since we hadn’t been producing on a daily basis for a long time. The first months were challenging but once we got a good balance, we sustained it and it has been going well since then. Now that 2021 Summer is coming, we are getting excited about playing live and travelling again. We’re not sure if that’ll happen but we can’t wait to try this new music & groove on the dancefloor.
– I remember seeing you guys for the first time playing the Acid Bogen at Kater for the last Mira’s Katzen tanzen auf’m Tisch bacchanal belting out the wildest most truly psychedelic set I have probably experienced in a room dedicated to psychotropics. What worked for you guys that night? Was it as memorable for you as it was for everyone in the room?
That gig was wild & super challenging! It happened at the end of our tour, back in December 2019. We had such a good experience because of the crowd, the soundsystem on point and general vibe surrounding this iconic venue. Also it was Mira’s birthday, giving this moment even more meaning. The public was so receptive and uplifting. We can say that we were a bit nervous to play but slowly we got into the mood and felt the energy of this place. That night, every individual made our concert super enjoyable. Thanks!
– How much do you miss being on the road, and out in the dusty places of the world? Do you have some touring plans for this year yet, or better yet, where do you dream of going to perform (and have you been to Australia yet)?
Indeed we do miss touring. It has been over a year now since we had a proper gig. Last one was at the Pipe & Pochet showcase, in Tulum back in January 2020. What we miss most is probably feeling that strong connection with the people. Dancing with everyone and feeling the strong energy of a packed dance floor. We are waiting patiently for things to settle down, get safer and we will make sure to be ready. We haven’t planned any touring yet, we’re waiting to see how the situation evolves. We still haven’t been to Australia. We would love to tour there. We heard the electronic scene is awesome, also this is a part of the world where progressive & psychedelic rock is quite popular. We feel our music would fit well there! We’ve been listening to a few bands from Australia over the past two or three years including Tame Impala, Pond, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard… amazing stuff! Moreover, we would be thrilled to discover South America. We were trying to organize a tour there right before the pandemic hit.
We’re currently finalizing a couple more tracks to wrap up our 2021 schedule. Then we plan to reshape our live show entirely. We improved our setup and made it much easier to perform. In the new act, we plan to add vocals & more instrument improvisations. We both play guitar & piano and are thinking of adding an extra challenge : exchanging instruments during the set. This would make the concert even more random and improvised. We believe that adding this extra challenge will be exciting for people to see and for us to do. We can’t wait to start playing again, share all this new music with you but more importantly dance the night away with everyone!
