Congrats on landing a 21-date UK tour supporting Midge Ure! How are you getting ready for a run like that, and do bigger rooms change the way you approach a show?
Fab: Thank you! As you can imagine, we’re very excited. Overall, we’re preparing pretty much the same way we do for any gig. The main difference this time is that we’ve had to adapt to playing with in-ears, because that’s how Midge Ure and his band work — no floor monitors on stage. That’s completely new for us, so we’ve had to get used to it. We’re pretty sure it’ll take a few gigs before we really embrace it properly.
Have you ever had a moment on stage where a song just took on a life of its own and completely changed how you see it?
Steve: Mmm, not really. Obviously, songs always take on a slightly different flavour when they’re played live. There are also certain parts or emotions you naturally tend to emphasise more because, well, it’s live. But so far we haven’t had one of those moments where, for example, a slow dark song suddenly reveals itself as a pop tune on stage.
Out of everything in your set right now, which track do you most look forward to playing live and why?
Fab: We’ve released something like 35 songs so far, and on this tour our set is only 30 minutes long. So we’ve already had to narrow it down to the eight songs we’re most looking forward to playing live.
Steve: And out of those eight favourites, I’d say Chinese Room and La Même Nuit.
You’ve just put out a new version of ‘Five-Arm Crystal’. What made you want to revisit that one, and what were you hoping to do differently this time around?
Steve: We wanted to release something that felt new while still staying connected to our last album, which came out last October. We’ve always enjoyed working on remixes — whether it’s our own tracks or someone else’s. It’s a very different process from writing a song from scratch, and we really enjoy that change of perspective.
When you’re making music, how do you know when a track is actually finished?
Steve: Well, first of all, what helps is that our only aim is to make a song that sounds good to our own ears, not anybody else’s. It also helps that we both know very precisely what we like and don’t like — synth textures, drum sounds, reverb settings, melody twists, and so on.
Fab: We’re also both very aware that 80% of a song’s quality comes from what you come up with in the first place. It’s already there in that initial idea that felt exciting enough to make you press record. So we always keep in mind that the objective afterwards is not so much to “finish” the song as it is to avoid killing what was already there. Any move or tweak you try has to improve the song instantly and obviously — if it doesn’t, don’t do it. And once nothing else needs tweaking anymore, then the song is finished 🙂
As a French-English duo, do those different backgrounds ever show up in your creative process in unexpected or funny ways?
Fab: Because we’re making music together, what matters more than anything else is our musical taste, and on that point we get along really well. What surprised me, though, was how keen Steve was for me to sing in French. And I’m probably not doing it as often as he would like! I love writing and singing in French, but for some reason it rarely happens that I naturally come up with French vocal ideas when I’m writing vocals over Steve’s musical ideas.
Once the UK tour wraps up, what’s next for you? What are you hoping 2026 looks like?
Steve: We’re really looking forward to getting back to writing new songs. We’ve already got around eight new tracks that are quite far along.
Fab : And hopefully some will have French lyrics 🙂
