LA Music Review | Art, stories and advice
Fresh, dreamy and fully alive!
Hi Mathieu, congrats on the release! What was your inspiration when you were writing this project?
How do you represent fragrance in musical form?
Released October 16, 2023. This challenge is one that Mathieu explores on his 4th piano release and the inspiration comes from the celebrated French perfumer Serge Lutens.
Douce-Amère is Mathieu’s homage to this great man’s work and it is his favourite perfume from his evocative collection: sweet and sour notes contrast with bitter artemisia, marzipan, absinth, liquorice, florals and vanilla in a perfectly balanced contradiction.
Mathieu’s three parts suite reflects the excitement of that bittersweet contrast: dissonant clusters take time to reveal the sweetness in the high registers, underpinned by dreamy chords and a driving rhythm throughout, ending on a joyful rhapsodie of uncompromising musical flavours.
What lessons would you like to impart with your audience?
Something as ethereal and ephemeral as perfume can enhance and inspire your imagination.
In my release, the inspiration from fragrance is a starting point, the real point is to create abstract images, open-minded enough for the listener to engage with and create their own images. My music is always democratic in that sense, everyone is free to interpret it as they please, the same goes with fragrance.
Start streaming “Artemisia” here:
What is your favorite part of this body of work?
The recurring thematic idea of descending notes: I worked on a little motif that I could use in the suite (Artemisia is the first single from the 3 part suite). It reflects a bittersweet idea of notes that are juxtaposed in each track. Artemisia takes you on a journey of contrasts: from bitter to sweet, via rhythmic and melancholy ideas.
Future releases? Upcoming events?
The follow-up single ‘Bittersweet’ is a continuation of ‘Artemisia’. It will be released on November 13th. The full suite is called Douce-Amère Suite for solo piano comprises of 3 tracks and it will be released in its entirety on December 11th.
Connect with Mathieu:
