Interview Demande à la poussière

Welcome to our interview with DEMANDE À LA POUSSIÈRE! Delve into the creation of 'Kintsugi', its themes, musical evolution, and future plans.

1. Congratulations on the upcoming release of "Kintsugi"! How does this album differ from your previous work, both musically and thematically?

Simon : Thank you! We’ve been working, since my arrival in the band, on new riffs, new atmospheres, new drones on Edgar's side.. I even found myself a brand new vocal technique which I thoroughly used in this album. In terms of differences, I’d say the first thing one would notice would be the mood.

Quiétude Hostile is a very dark album, while Kintsugi finds light deep into the darkness.

The overall mood of the album is taking steps towards rebuilding a better, stronger, improved version of oneself.

And that makes everything, like, doomier. With pachydermic riffs.

2. The concept of "Kintsugi" is intriguing, drawing parallels between the Japanese art of repairing ceramics with gold and the human experience of resilience. How did you weave this concept into the fabric of the album, both lyrically and musically?

Simon: To put it in simple words, we split the writing process between me and Neil.

Neil has a very different method of writing lyrics. When I write about never ending depression, problems that can't be solved whatsoever, dire situations from which there's no way out, Neil writes about healing from wounds, coping with stuff, positivity in chaos…

He is the optimistic type, in the end!

In this album, he wrote half of the lyrics.

And together, we succeeded at giving this “destroy and repair” vibe throughout the album.

3. Your music has been described as a blend of Apocalyptic Doom and Post Black Metal. Can you elaborate on the influences behind this unique fusion of genres, and how they manifest in your sound?

Vince : This is the third album, we aren't questioning ourselves so much on the influences we want to put in our new songs, I’d rather say that everything comes out pretty much naturally. This album follows the previous ones in terms of sound, people can find some doom rhythms, sludgy textures and hints of black metal. This mixture makes the sound of Demande A La Poussière.

4. "Kintsugi" explores themes of darkness, despair, and resilience. What inspired the lyrical content of this album, and how do you hope listeners will interpret these themes?

Simon: well, Neil and I were going through dark phases of our existences when writing this album.

Most of Neil’s lyrics transpire some intimacy. Wounds that one don't speak of.

My lyrics are nothing but pure rage and self loath.

I do hope our listeners would find themselves into my lyrics, thus channel their own rage into something healthier for themselves.

5. The tracklist of "Kintsugi" features titles that evoke imagery and emotion, such as "La Parabole Des Aveugles" and "Vulnerant Omnes, Ultima Necat." Could you shed some light on the inspiration behind these titles and how they relate to the overall narrative of the album?

Neil : the inspiration for « La parabole des aveugles » comes from the painting of Brueghel depicting the biblical image of blind leaders leading a blind people to their fall … I came across this painting randomly in a dark period of my life, and it hitted me immediately with it’s actual relevance in this world full of war, pain, disastrous decisions and inactions. « Vulnerant omnes, ultima necat » is just a painful reminder of the time that goes by … every hour wounds, the last one kills !

6. Your band consists of members with diverse musical backgrounds, from Black Metal to Hardcore. How does this diversity contribute to the creative process and sound of DEMANDE À LA POUSSIÈRE?

Vince : We all have different backgrounds, I myself didn’t even play metal music before Demande A La Poussière. I think, on behalf of each of us, DALP is our first project of that kind. Our inspiration doesn’t come from the past, from our personal background.

We create our own way of working. We are lucky to work in Edgard’s studio, The Lower Tones Place, and this also changes everything. From the mockup to the master, everything is made there with our hands and especially Ed’s ones. We are comfortable enough to try things, to record, then keep or throw away, until we are satisfied with the result.

7. The artwork for "Kintsugi" by Vaderetro is striking and evocative. How does the visual representation complement the music, and what was the collaboration process like with the artist?

Neil : we discovered Vade Retro with the visual they created for a festival we played in Paris a couple of years ago … the linocut work is very strong visually and we found it fit to illustrate our work ! We gave theme the theme and they proposed a few things to us before we finally car with the idea of a chimera, this animal created by random parts of others, becoming this unique monster that we become over the years, reconstruction after reconstruction

8. "Kintsugi" marks the first album featuring Simon Perrin on vocals. How has his presence influenced the dynamic of the band and the recording process?

Vince : Simon arrived in the summer 2022. We first prepared the shows that were scheduled for September and the end of the year. It was great to know each other better and to introduce our vision of DALP sound to him. In the fall, we started to mock up for the next album, it was great to start from the beginning with Simon mentally and technically. His vocal skills and intelligibility led us to consider putting the voice more in the front and emphasize the lyric.

As for Quiétude Hostile, we took a whole year from the beginning to the end for the recording, and the main difference is in the writing process of the lyrics with four hands of Neil and Simon.

9. DEMANDE À LA POUSSIÈRE draws inspiration from John Fante's novel "Ask the Dust." How does literature influence your songwriting and thematic exploration?

Simon: The first album’s lyrics are mainly comprised of punchlines found in the book!

In the end, we quite detached from the meaning behind the name of Fante’s novel, and started speaking about things that are meaningful to us.

As for me, I enjoy reading sci-fi books. It keeps my vocabulary in shape! But that’s all it does. My writing is very primal, straightforward and coarse.

10. Could you share some insight into your songwriting and recording process for "Kintsugi"? How do you capture the raw energy and emotion of your music in the studio?

Vince : Since the beginning of DALP, we mostly mock up the songs with the aid of a computer, with a smaller setup, midi drums etc, and record some ideas, not necessarily a complete song. And we tried to match the lyrics - that were written before by Neil and/or Simon - to the music that fits the best. It was a really interesting new way of working. For the final recording, we wanted a true massive analog sound. It’s Edgard’s production signature. So we took the time to work on the sound of each instrument, choose the mic, the position, to catch the best result. We put a lot of passion in the sound, trying to do better each time.

11. What's next for DEMANDE À LA POUSSIÈRE after the release of "Kintsugi"? Any upcoming tours or future projects you can tell us about?

Vince : We just started a tour the day after the release of Kintsugi with our friends of Vesperine in France. We’re both introducing our new album on stage.

And we would like to continue to tour as much as possible this year in France and Europe hopefully. We’re currently working on it.

Thanks for this interview.

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