Interview: Getting to know SAAVAN
French duo Saavan have revealed their latest single from their forthcoming sophomore EP ‘Observatory’. We asked them to tell us about themselves:
I am: Lucas Mokrani, 27, born and raised in the North of France (near Lille), which I hated growing up but will always keep a special place in my heart for. My parents made me listen to all kind of music. Jazz, Rock, and Blues from the dad. Electronic music, Bossa Nova, and Classical from the mum. I live in Paris Now, and I’m part-time ½ of Saavan, part-time ½ of a directors duo called Meska.
I am: Claire Lengaigne, 26, been living in Paris for 3 years (born and raised in the North of France too, then studied in Belgium for a while). I’m now a part time physiotherapist, part time musician. I’ve always been into singing and I started doing it with Lucas something like 7 years ago. We had the same musical references and after a few demos for fun, we decided to start the Saavan project together.
Young Minds is: The very first demo we worked on, that finally made it to the EP. It was 3 years ago. We’ve made tons of different versions. We can’t even listen to it anymore. Even when we started working in the studio, for the final arrangements and mix, this one had a lot more tracks and kept making the computer crash. We had our sound engineer making changes until the very last minute, the day before we’d send it out for mastering. At first, it was an acoustic track Lucas recorded in a hurry before going out. It was an improvisation, and he’s not such a brilliant guitar player, which is why the notes repeat themselves a lot. Same for the lyrics, which came out pretty spontaneously, so he kept repeating it again and again. It was a time of riots and repression in Paris. The very first version ended with the audio recording of a standoff between youth and the police Lucas had to go through to get home.
Home is (Lucas): wherever I can produce music, or write stories. When I can’t, I really feel like I’m gone, like life is on pause – which is good sometimes, but I can’t handle it for too long without feeling empty.
Home is (Claire): where I feel like I’m in a cocoon, in my bedroom. Home doesn’t depend on the city I’m in (even though I’ve fallen in love with Paris), but the room I’m in. Where I can sing, paint, tinker, play piano or hide under the sheets when it gets cold outside. The decoration of my bedroom is oddly important for me, I enjoy being in a room that is alive, with stuff on the walls, plants, lights etc.
I spend too much time (Lucas): working. Which can lead to some degradation in your daily life, when you become obsessed by your work. For the goals you’ve set for yourself have become your idea of happiness, the rest can end up feeling like a waste of time. It can get harder to enjoy your free-time, for you either start considering it as a delay in your run for your goals, or start feeling guilt for not being active. I guess that may fade away as you’ve accomplished things, but in the meantime, it’s best to learn how to let go and rest – whatever your idea of resting is – for you’ll only produce good things if you manage to take breaks, before going all in again.
I spend too much time (Claire): Tinkering. I love crafting things, (useful or decorative), embellish my room, drawing…
I’ve never: shot a feature film. But we’re working every day to make it happen. I’ve also never recorded a full album. And we’re working every day to make it happen.
It might surprise people to learn that: Claire and I found the name Saavan out of a list of untranslatable indian words on 9GAG, but separately. I was in London, she was in Paris, and we had both found it interesting, which we realised later. Craaaaazzy huh?
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Saavan will be be releasing their sophomore EP ‘Observatory’ on November 29. Keep up to date with them on Facebook.
