Interview: Five Minutes with Joris Delacroix

  Image credit: Guilhem Canal

Despite the UK being filled with vibrant, upcoming artists, the music scene in France always leads us astray – down a path of contemporary melodic house and into the midsts of an ever-evolving scene. Joris Delacroix is one such artist, who’s currently working his way towards the latest release of ‘Early Hours ft. Run Rivers’. The single will be released on the 7th of May via SmallFishBigSea and while we can’t share the song with you just yet, we can give you a hint of what to expect. Imagine you’re at the last big festival you attended: you’ve been up all night and the sun begins to creep towards you. The brief thought of bed crosses your mind before the shimmering ‘Early Hours’ appears, erasing all thoughts of rest and pulling you into the day of non-stop heat, laughter and sticky drinks. 

Pre-save ‘Early Hours feat. Run Rivers’

Naturally, we jumped at the chance to gain some insight into the producer’s mind as we wait (not so) patiently for the release. Catch it all in the exclusive interview below:

Set the tone for us. Why the arts?

This is the only thing I can/want do to with my life.

Which comes first when you’re producing – the sound or the idea?

It generally starts with a melody on the piano that I record with my phone

Does your material feature any collaborations?

Yes, sometimes with vocal artists, and rarely with other producers

What’s on your current playlist?

Ardalan, Tyler The Creato, Glass Animals, Bad Sounds, NTO, Bob Moses, SuperParka… etc

Tell us about the chemistry you have with your fans on stage.

It’s quite difficult to answer this currently… But I think what people used to like on my shows is to listen to cool melodies to get high and strong kicks to dance

What techniques do you experiment with to get your original sound?

It’s a lot about playing a simple melody with my keyboard, using the “computer” tools to increase this melody and put it into a hardware synthesizer to get a cool sound on it

Take us through a day in the recording studio.

I’m afraid it might be a little boring from an outside point of view! When I create something I spend a lot of time listening to it as a loop until it gets satisfying. So watching me produce is basically listening to the same thing over and over

Was there a specific moment in your life where you thought, “this is what I want to do”?

Yes. When I made my first track, I immediately “broadcast” it on an internet forum I used to spent time on back then. It was very humble, but I got cool feedback and had a very constructive exchange with the people from there. And as I had so much fun making a track with my computer, I decided this is going to be my life now: make tracks and play them to people who like it.

What do you keep close by while you’re playing a set?

A drink 🙂

Any emerging artists on your radar?

To be honest I often don’t know who’s emerging and who’s already famous!

What gets your creative juices flowing?

Experiences, interactions, all that make me feel something intense, good or bad

Take us through your collection of gear, tech or software that accompanies your creative expression.

Ableton Live on a Macbook computer, Moog Sub37, Moog Matriarch, Push2, Sequential Pro3, Access Virus TI… and my piano

Any side projects you’re working on?

No, I’m totally focused on my main project

How have you refined your craft since you entered the industry?

Sure, it’s even a need to improve my producing skills and keep learning new things. It’s actually one of the main reasons I do this job

Breakdown the news for us: what can we expect from you this year?

One new track every 2 months and a new live set that I’ll hopefully can play at gigs soon

Famous last words?

Bisou

Follow Joris Delacroix:

Website – Facebook – Twitter – Soundcloud – Youtube – Instagram – Spotify

By Sarah Britton