Words by Mark Moore
This month, 27 year old Parisian Martin Solveig releases his second album Hedonist – the follow up to last year’s Sur La Terre – on Defected. With new club smash Jealousy featuring Elmer "Lee" Fields wreaking havoc across the country’s dancefloors and airwaves, Solveig’s sound continues to dominate after the commercial success of Everybody and last year’s Top 40 Rocking Music. After three failed attempts to reach the workaholic, Mark Moore finally tracked him down in his studio.
Now a part of the French brat pack that includes Claude Monnet, DJ Gregory, Bob Sinclar, Julien Jabre and Dimitri from Paris, this producer is also part of Bob Sinclar’s Africanism team. Hedonist is not just a collection of house tracks. "I want to be remembered for more than a few looped samples. I called it Hedonist because that was my state of mind whilst working on it! I tend to go with the flow rather than plan everything and wanted to be eclectic with a flavour of the 60’s and 70’s. I am also into wine, parties and low necklines and have a huge streak of hedonism!" he quips.
Classically trained as a choirboy, Soveig has an acute ear for harmony. He has a passionate interest in percussion particularly the rhythms from Africa and incorporates that into disco and funk. "I have a great love of merging together different music styles. I have been listening to soul and r&b for ten years and anything from the 60’s to The Supremes and Quincy Jones. The 80’s are my main background like The Police, the Klash and others from the UK but last year my influences became more diverse as I was very excited by rock and what I call black rock n roll – Lenny Kravitz and Rolling Stones. I’ve been told my music is African orientated with great energy."
It’s a staggering achievement that Solveig has had worldwide success for his energetic house music as France does not have a house scene! You can count the house clubs in France on one hand and they are limited to Paris and Marseilles. "There is no underground music scene in France (although interest is rising in the Universities) and no distribution of underground music," explained Martin. "The French music scene is very different – it’s commercial and all r ‘n’ b, hip-hop and pop! The French press doesn’t take you seriously unless you have had big chart success. Yet fortunately, compared to Sur La Terre, the hard-nosed French press have been kind and the album has already sold 16000 in France and getting radio play! Usually the only house music played is a cheesy dance record with a big familiar pop sample running through it!"
Solveig vaguely known in his native France is much better known around the world. Hedonist is a collection of eleven tracks. "The ideas for Hedonist have been inside me for along time but it took 3 months to write the songs and main melodies and then 3 months to lay them down and tweak. I am quite pleased with it. I do feel that there are some tracks which were not 100% complete like "If You Tell Me More" where I can hear some mistakes but on the whole I am happy."
Reading the titles of the tracks tells it’s own story: Everybody, Something Better, If You Tell Me More, Rejection, Blind Rendezvous, Something About You, Jealousy, Don’t Waste Another Day… "Often they are ideas from life on the road. Rejection was born in Australia on tour as I am always the one not getting any success with the women (not that I wanted any success as I am not single!) but friends would play games with me. They used to say to me when we were on the beach: Martin – here comes a girl lets see if she can reject you too! I am shy to people I don’t know!" he says laughing. Jealousy merges together black soul, disco and African beats with a live drummer adding extra magic.
"Requiem Pour Un Con is a very special song as it’s the only cover on the album. It was not supposed to be on there until I had an impulse one day. It is a huge French classic I reworked impulsively and quickly for my radio show. Friends liked the tribute of me using the sample at the end written by Serge Gainsbourg .I am most proud of Rejection and Everybody as they are totally different concepts to my usual productions. The ideas for those have been in my mind for ages and I am really proud of them musically," he enthused. The prolific, passionate and modest producer was amazed by the commercial success of Everybody, especially in the UK. "Touring all summer and hearing it being played around the world has been amazing. Although I consider myself a producer first, DJing is a natural progression as I have to DJ to represent my sound and promote my music."
Lee Fields will be performing Everybody and Jealousy at the album launch at Pacha which has made Solveig start to think a lot more about live performances "rather than just bang,bang, bang music. I have more to offer than that!" Solveig even performs on Dry and Requiem Pour Un Con.
"I will be starting my third album early next year. I did not want to be a one hit artist and Defected have worked with me on raising and developing my profile. I also have some other projects in mind. I have amazing vocalists on this album: Jay Sebag and Lee Fields particularly so we are looking into the possibility of producing albums with them. I am also doing some productions for an R&B album too."
