“Mountains”, his first album: we meet Aedhi

First of all, congratulations! The fruit of more than a year and a half of intensive work, “Mountains”, your first album, is finally out and we’re delighted you could tell us a few words about it. To be precise, it came out on 27 January. You’ll probably never forget that date?

Never, indeed. It’s a real achievement for me because this project meant a great deal to me. A lot has happened since it started. I set off without really knowing whether I’d get to the end or what the result would be. I waited for this day impatiently for a long time. I was torn between impatience for the result and impatience for the first feedback. This date, which kept getting pushed back, has finally arrived and I’m very happy about it today.

It takes courage to embark on an adventure like this. Why was it so important for you to produce this album?

Without wanting to copy KarlK, I too had a whole bunch of projects I’d started and never finished. To be honest, if every one of my projects had been completed, I’d most likely be on my fourth album by now. I decided to get down to it seriously and finish the projects that suited me best and that I liked the most.

You probably think I could just as well have released my tracks one after another, and you’d most likely be right. But it was the album concept I liked: offering several different things within one and the same project. Like Paul Kalkbrenner did with “Berlin Calling”, or Stereoclip with “Hometown”. In fact, the intro of the album is a little nod to the latter!

You started making music 8 years ago, so was “Mountains” also a way to make the most of all your musical experience?

Pretty much. I’ve been through a lot of musical styles and even today, any kind of music can appeal to me and give me ideas. It was tricky to define the angle I’d take on the album so as to keep a common thread.

The goal was to enjoy myself, with no constraints and no limits.

Once the direction was set, the project took off and I gave it everything to see it through.

Before launching Aedhi, you spent several years writing in the group PYT. Why go solo? Did you want to express more personal music?

The musical style of Mountains isn’t completely removed from PYT’s. My touch is everywhere, though, and the result would inevitably have been quite different if PYT had made this album. The reason for this solo project lies more in the two of us having different ambitions, which sometimes held us back on the many projects we had together. Add to that a lack of time to get together and him moving abroad, and it was becoming really hard to get anything finished… Still, we do have a few finished projects and it’s not out of the question that they’ll come out one day! I even hope so!

There are 4 collaborations in total on this album, including one with Clément BCX. That was almost a given: is he a long-time friend?

We’ve known each other since our first year of secondary school. He’s one of my best friends. He has always been the first one up for making music, whether that meant starting rock bands or YouTube channels, covering well-known songs or getting his guitar out at a party. More naturally inclined towards pop, he turned to electronic music and we started working together properly. It began with our cover of Ornette’s “Crazy”, and also our Coldplay cover, “Sky Full of Stars”. Today we’re releasing our first “Original” and we’re very proud of it!

Among other things, Clément is the original writer of the famous “Miracle”, whose cover by Julian Perretta was a massive hit. I imagine having him by your side is a real strength. How did you arrive at “Next to You”?

It’s a real strength, but above all a stroke of luck. Not only is Clément a very good singer, he’s also a multi-instrumentalist. He plays guitar and piano equally well.

When he plays on something, it sounds right straight away.

The story of “Next To You” is a loop I sent him in summer 2015. I didn’t know what to do with it and just wanted his opinion. I was even thinking of going for a different key. He sent the loop back to me with the track’s electric guitar and some bits of vocals. He’d turned the loop into a real piece of music, like a magician. It took us a long time to finish, even though we manage to see each other every weekend. Unlike the other collaborations on the album, the one with Clément is a 100% collaboration. That means we created the whole track together, whereas with the others the tasks were more divided up. The hard part with this kind of collaboration is ending up with something we both like. The result: it was the last track on the album to be finished. But now that it’s out, we’re both happy with it, and it was very important to me that Clément be on the album. It means a lot.

Listening to all the tracks, you quickly notice the piano is everywhere. Does it never leave your productions?

I’ve tried to move away from it many times. It comes back every time, whether I like it or not. The piano is an almost indispensable instrument for me. It very quickly makes a track more beautiful and gives it an “emotional” side that I try to bring out as much as possible in my music. When you’re swept up in a piece of music, eyes closed, in bed or on the metro, the arrival of the piano often pulls you out of your daydream, its first notes are so soft and striking. That’s what I love about it, but I hope I haven’t overdone it!

The feature with Sanga particularly struck us. Did you already know which direction you wanted to take when working with him?

To be honest, no, not really. The original idea was a voice in the African-American style, like Ray Charles or, more recently, Gregory Porter or even Kaleem Taylor. A friend of mine put me in touch with Jérôme (Sanga) and the track took on quite a different style. It was very rewarding. He taught me a lot and brought an exceptional state of mind to our collaboration. The recording wasn’t done in a studio but in my flat in Paris. He called a friend who came over in no time to play a guitar part on the track. It gave it a real “jam” feel and it’s one of my best memories of the album.

If you had to pick one highlight from making this album, what would it be?

To finish and polish my album, I went alone to Annecy, to a little studio I found online. I cut myself off completely from my daily life for two weeks to see the project through and focus on nothing else. I also got to discover this French town and its magnificent landscapes, which are really inspiring thanks to the lake and the mountains. Hence the name of the album, in fact. I was hesitating between “The Lake” and “Mountains”, but I chose “Mountains” because it’s something it really has in common with Corsica, a place I’m especially fond of.

How do you see the future of Aedhi?

To be honest, I’ve only given it a little thought so far. It’s quite hard with work, and my priority right now is promoting the album. As for what’s next, we’ll see! I have lots of other projects in progress that I’d really like to release. But it may take time. As I said, I’ve got enough for several more albums, provided I find the “inspiration”… ?