They’ve come all the way from Aix-en-Provence, in the South of France, to electrify the city with their brand of music. Meet young electro-pop artistes Nadège Teri and Lucille Hochet, who call themselves the Andromakers. The duo will be performing in the city on January 19 , as part of their maiden tour of India and Nepal.
Electro-pop, also called synthpop, is a genre of music where the synthesiser (synth) plays the prominent role. Here the duo uses a Casiotone synth – a basic synth, dating back to 1981, along with other retro instruments such as vintage keyboards and lo-fi drums. As such the duo say that their melodies – presented in a mixture of French and English – reflect the nostalgia of their childhood. Excerpts from an e-mail interview with the band.
What drew you to electro-pop?
We were playing in a metal band together for around six years. At the end of the project, we got bored with guitars and noises. So we decided to continue making music together, in a softer and more electronic way. We felt the need to simplify everything. We chucked our guitars in favour of instruments that we found in a second hand market where you can get a cornucopia of vintage items.
Tell us a bit about the vintage instruments that you use in your music. What is special about these sounds?
After our stint with the band, we experimented lots of ways to compose and play music. We tried many instruments until we found toy-synthesisers such as colourful keyboards from the 80s. We immediately fell in love with their sounds. These retro sounds are very much like our childhood memories, very clear and simple. And so, we like to mix these simple sounds with thicker ones, such as fat bass and electro drums.
What are your influences and inspirations?
Inspiration is a mystery – it just happens. But, our favourite themes are the five elements, nature, dreams, relationships and emotions.
Do you have plans to collaborate with Indian musicians?
We’d love too! But we haven’t met any yet! We really appreciate Indian music, particularly that of the late Pandit Ravi Shankar. We bought some local music to discover more.
Andromakers’ concert is at the Open Air Auditorium of Vyloppilly Samskriti Bhavan, at 6.30 p.m. The concert is being organised by Alliance Française de Trivandrum.
