“When you go on stage and see a sea of people in front of you, it’s really impressive. I still keep the feeling within me. » It was a Saturday morning in December, in 2018. While a large part of France was still sleeping peacefully, two virtual strangers took to the biggest stage of the Trans Musicales de Rennes to close the evening. It was there, between the trembling walls of a poorly soundproofed hall 9, facing an oozing and partly drunk crowd that the lives of Gabriel Renault and Antoine Talon were turned upside down. Not trivial for a change of life. It was a little after five in the morning and the electro duo called Atoem came off stage with the feeling of accomplishment. A few months earlier, the two kids had been spotted by the boss of Trans who had initially chosen to schedule them at 5 p.m. in the Upstairs room. “The more we prepared our set, the more we saw that it wouldn’t work. We went to see Jean-Louis Brossard boldly, asking him if he didn’t have another slot.” Good luck to them.
Thanks to this late set which was a bit of a hit, the two friends managed to make a name for themselves on the new French electro scene. For five years and as many EPs, they have performed concerts and festivals. But rather than persist in entering the BPM (beats per minute) competition which seems to agitate the French electro scene, Antoine and Gabriel opted for a more daring choice and above all more faithful to their identity: slowness. . Like their very good first album Entropy released this Friday, Atoem’s music enjoys a haunting form. “We always loved downtempo music. It’s true that the bulk of the electro scene is moving towards faster things with Eurodance or rave influences. It’s not really our identity. We like to lower the pace, with rhythms at less than 100 BPM. There is a sensual side which can give rise to a form of trance. We found our comfort in slowness,” explains Gabriel, sitting on the stage of the Antipode’s large hall.
A tribute to Pink Floyd and rock
This Friday, the very young thirty-year-old will celebrate on this same stage the release of his first album to the sound of a set which promises to be relatively muscular. “We like to start slowly. The sounds harden as the live progresses, the tempo accelerates and it ends in a mess. It’s a real electro set that hits,” warns Gabriel. An atmosphere that contrasts with the more subdued sounds of this first album, where the synth is king and imposes itself as in the new wave of the 1980s and 90s. A disc both soaring and energizing walking between pop and techno, like the excellent Sinking Ocean listen below. Nothing surprising when you know that the two friends are first and foremost big rock fans.
When they met at the end of the Rheu music school where they took guitar and drums lessons, the two teenagers that they were shared the same love for the Doors, the Strokes, Nirvana but especially for Pink Floyd. It is also in homage to the British psych group that the Rennes duo found its name. Atoem for “Atom heart mother”, a UFO released in 1970 whose major title lasts more than 23 minutes (this was the time limit for one side of a 33 rpm vinyl). “Pink Floyd has an experimental approach to sound, a real sound research. We always like to be inspired by it,” recognizes the duo.
To find his color and differentiate himself from his illustrious influences, Atoem equipped himself with a particularly powerful weapon that he designed himself. While he was enrolled in a master’s degree in electronics at university, Antoine Tolon launched into the design of a modular synthesizer. “It was a study project so it was funded by the university. My teachers were super excited. I did everything in it: I drilled the components, printed the electronic cards, made the casing. In the end, the university wanted to keep it to use as its showcase but I had to say no,” says Antoine.
The crazy history of the modular synth
Since then, the duo has never separated from this incredible machine covered with cables about which the uninitiated do not understand much. A “do-it-yourself” instrument that allows Atoem to multiply electronic tracks and layers. “In a classic synth, the entire sound path is pre-wired. With a modular synth, you can create your own path, undo it, modulate the sound, create different things. The possibilities are endless,” explains Antoine, its creator. Always present on stage, this unique and original piece allows the Rennais to display singular textures and to leave their mark on a musical environment where it is now difficult to innovate. Already recognized in France, the duo now hopes to take their improbable electronic machine to other stages of the world to travel and make up for some years of youth spent locked in creative studios. You will first have to go through an important French tour.