MIA: something I noticed very quickly about you and your account is that there’s a lot to do with nature. Does nature inspire you and your music a lot?
LLOYD: When it comes to nature, I think what inspires me the most is in the moment when I have to put the music together with a visual representation of it, for my youtube uploads for example. That’s something I usually do after having the track finished. So nature itself it’s not intensively around when the songs are being cooked. It’s more about the aesthetic, and it’s not even something I force myself to do. It’s really genuine. Nevertheless I don’t like to stay in one lane so I prefer to have a vast variety of views, like for example on my last record; ‘Anatomy & Friends”, the aesthetic that got into me was the kind of paintings and designs that encompasses the anatomy of the human body. And it shows for example on the name of the album itself, the cover art of the record which I myself designed and the song ‘Vein’ concluding the LP.
M: you started releasing music on spotify in 2018. What do you feel has been your biggest accomplishment with your music since then?
L: Well I began making music and uploading it without telling people much about it, people who were close to me. Like family, friends, etc. I wanted it to be something really personal, but at the same time share it to the outside world, e.g via Spotify. They all knew I was into playing music, but not about the part of releasing songs. The only one I was sharing it all with was with my best friend, who still is years after. Gradually, I began to open up more about it, with a little help from some other friends that had no idea i was releasing music. I showed them some songs and when they listened to them, they encouraged me to reveal them to more people because they really liked them, telling me it was great music and it deserved to be heard by as many persons as possible. The songs I showed to them were ‘Semitranslucent’ and ‘Darsteller’ which were out before the full release of my first LP ‘Masquerades’. When ‘Masquerades’ came out, more people on my school already knew about it and it made me really happy to know they all enjoyed the music, and that they also passed it on to their friends. I was still in a ‘secretive mode’ though, I guess I just wasn’t used to the idea of my surroundings knowing about it yet. I was still a little uncomfortable.
Months later, when ‘Anatomy & Friends’ was only weeks from being released, I was already enjoying the fact that i was at the point when almost everybody I knew would know about the release and would be able to listen to it. Plus, releasing ‘Anatomy & Friends’ was another step up for me. Because that record has got my first song with vocals and lyrics of mine (‘Florida’) . I went through a lot of anxiety deciding if i should put ‘Florida’ on the record or not. But once again, my friends motivated me to do it. They gave me confidence, confidence I really needed because you know; you can always change the way your instruments sounds, if you don’t like something you switch it up easily on your DAW. But your voice is uniquely yours, and you can improve your sound of course, you can enhance your singing skills as you can do with your piano skills. But you’ll never be able to sound like someone else, you cannot replace it. So when it comes to vocal criticism and people’s reaction to it, I think you are a lot more sensitive and vulnerable to it. So, that was the core of my anxiety at that moment. Don’t get me wrong though, i never thought of releasing something i’m not proud of. i have to love the song before considering putting it out. But the idea of people from my school that I see everyday not feeling the same way and instead, having a negative reaction to it used to haunt and terrify me a lot. Luckily, they loved it. Not only was one of the biggest reliefs of my life but also, motivated me to work on more songs with vocals. Which was something i was looking forward to do, way back before ‘Florida’.
So, the biggest accomplishment with my music since then was; being able to share it with my surroundings comfortably and confidently and defeating all the anxiety that haunted me for so long. And that, i owe it to my friends.
M: you have two albums I believe, Masquerades and Anatomy & Friends. What would you say is the biggest difference between the two?
L: I think, if i had to break it down to ‘the biggest difference’, it would be myself. From Masquerades to Anatomy & Friends there was a lot of growth and learning. Leaving aside the shifting of aesthetic and genre/style on both records, what impacted me the most was the changes i was going through and nowadays, still am. That’s something i appreciate a lot about making records. For me at least, the Masquerades era, the Anatomy & Friends era and where i find myself right now, feels like a whole compound. Even though, as i said there were a lot of changes, i see it as a continuum. Basically i'm saying that, when writing Anatomy & Friends i didn’t want to turn around to the entire Masquerades world, but at the same time i did want to set a big difference. A notorious difference to myself and to the fans.
M: if you had to choose, which ones your favourite?
L: If i had to choose… It’s needless to say that i love all my songs. It kind of feels like picking one of your children to be your favorite. But, i think Anatomy & Friends is more special to me since all the changes involved and the fact that on that record is ‘Florida’. As i said before, the first song of mine with lyrics to ever be released.
M: I love the titles to your songs. They’re just so raw and blunt, ‘My Friend Lives In Saint-Étienne’. How do you title your songs? Purely by what inspires them?
L: The process of naming the songs is something i tend to do when the track is finished too, and i believe that process is not the same when i put a title to an instrumental song than when i put it to a song with lyrics. When it comes to instrumental songs, what inspires the title is something i might be going through at that moment. So i just analyze my situation, i think about people, or a movie, maybe a memorie. And try to squeeze a nice title to it. As you mentioned, ‘My Friend LIves In Saint-Étienne’ is inspired for example from a friend, that at that moment, was going through a lot of pain from personal issues. I was talking to him a lot at that moment, so he was surely in my mind. Furthermore, i showed him the song when it was in process and gave me very useful feedback. I don’t remember exactly the things he said and what he thought i could modify, but i did listen to his suggestions and turned the song to what it is right now. So it can seem very raw and blunt, but it's quite a metaphor. My friend Jean, would be him (that’s not his actual name) and to ‘Lives in Saint-Étienne’ i mean something i came up with in the moment of naming the song. Referring to Saint-Étienne as a far away place distinguished by its confusion. And it has nothing to do with the actual french city. I just picked a well known location that’s a long way from home and also that i knew almost nothing about, boosting that feeling of remoteness and daze. So my friend, i saw at that moment he was on that state of mind. To the point he would just, live in there and build himself a home.
But when is a song with words, what inspires me the most is not much about my current situation (yes i might talk about it on the songs, but the titles it’s not purely inspired by it like when naming instrumental music) but, the content that are on the lyrics. When i'm writing lines, i like to include a lot of topics. Not from myself only but from bigger diversities of themes e.g a story a friend told me, weird things i remember from my childhood, dreams/nightmares, etc. The reason for this bigger plate of possibilities is because, lyrics allow me to express them clearer. I don’t want to say there is more freedom, i grab a lot of freedom when communicating topics on instrumental tunes and making titles to them but, i guess that’s that; the chance to express those things that are way harder to voice via instrumental music (which does not mean that those things cannot ever be expressed by just music, sometimes sounds transmit these stuff better than words) so the title comes from that. The subjects i’m dealing with while writing the lyrics. Which can be a lot but, i always do my best to make it as coherent as possible to myself and to the rest, putting all together. So when someone else reads it, they can put themselves on my shoes, or maybe can make the words fit to stuff they are going through their life.
To get rid of this mental knot that i just got tangled in, i’m gonna conclude saying that it is not that binary as it seems to be. It’s not always one way or another. It is just how the way things generally tend to work out. But the way i take action when creating something never goes exactly the same way, there’s no formula. No formula when making titles, writing songs, writing lyrics, designing art covers, etc. Anyways, i hope i made myself clear.
M: you have over a few hundred monthly listeners on Spotify. Did you ever think that many people would listen to your music?
L: I was expecting, when i made my first release on 2018, to have ¼ of the listeners/fans that i have right now, in 10 years or so. So, no. I never thought i could even pass the one hundred in only 2 years. But to see it happen is honestly amazing, i take a lot of pride of the people who support me and walk with me on this journey, i couldn’t be more grateful. Anyways, i’m still looking forward to invite more people to the family and i tend to dream a lot about the day i play a sold out show in a huge arena, to headline a big festival or to go on tour around the world.
Nevertheless, i believe that there’s no rush to ‘blow up’, i learned to enjoy the present and the position where i currently am, of which i can say im proud.
M: Florida has over 1.5k streams. When writing A&F did you think that song would get the most streams of them all?
L: As i explained before, it was the song i was the most nervous about. There was a time months before releasing A&F, i showed the Florida to friends i never really sent unreleased music for feedback, asking if the song was decent at least. And they all really loved it, and as i previously mentioned they encouraged me to put it on the record.
I finally accepted people liked it, and l let the song stay on the album. Just to clarify, i loved the song myself. But for some reason i thought people never would, i don’t know why.
So the answer is obviously no. I never expected it to be the one that people liked the most! And also never expected to any song to cross the 1k. Super stoked to see it happen, and now i can’t wait to release more songs with vocals.
M: what’s your next goal with your music?
L: This year, i was looking forward to perform more live shows. But i obviously couldn’t under this circumstances. However, i’ve been practicing my live performing skills at home, and i can’t wait to do my first solo live shows.
I’m also writing my third album, and i'm taking my time. No rush to finish it. This album will contain a lot more songs with lyrics. I don’t know, maybe all of them will have lyrics. i’ll see what i do. Those would be my main goals at the moment.
M: Has the current world crisis’ going on inspired you or made the music process harder?
L: it actually gave me a lot of time to work on music, it didn’t make it harder at all. I can’t say it inspired me, but the time i had helped me for sure. On normal life, i would be on school 8 hours monday to friday. So that benefited me. However, it took away from me all the possibilities of living new experiences with my friends or alone in the outside world. Instead i’ve been seeing the same walls and going out to the same garden over half of the year. What i’m saying is that, this experience, is from where i squeeze a lot of the juice for lyrical content. I have been writing lyrics from songs for my third album lately and there are songs that, a lot of its content is about memorable stories i lived with my friends or just myself over the last 2 years. Anyways, this doesn’t mean i’m going to run out of subjects to write about.
The current world crisis gave me the time and isolation needed to work on something so personal and serious to me like a record. But took away from the access to the euphoria of the outside. Which is something i miss a lot. I think that, the fact i’m writing these songs telling stories i recall with a lot of nostalgia definitely influenced the music and the way i deliver vocals to shift to a melancholic side, i almost feel like i’m growing old and realising i can’t do any of the stuff i used to do with friends anymore.
M: I like ending on a fun one! If you could write a song for any tv show which would it be?
L: I don’t really watch any tv shows, i barely can name one or two. But to give you an answer, i’d probably write a song for an anime. I often listen to a lot of the soundtracks of my favorite ones. And to be part of any soundtrack list of an anime i love, it would be awesome! For example, the last one i saw and been listening to the soundtrack of is ‘Japan Sinks 2020’. I feel like i could do something that could fit among the rest of the tunes.
Huge Lloyd Vaan fan here! Keep it up ! <3