Mercredi 14/10, Les Etoiles, Paris
En première partie d’Aurora, l’anglais David Zincke en a surpris plus d’un. En effet, rares sont les musiciens qui surprennent encore de leur jeu de guitare. Mais les doigts de David Zincke se déplacent sur le manche de sa folk avec une agilité impressionnante, tout en battant le rythme de son pied sur une percussion amplifiée. Parmi les morceaux les plus country, sa voix fait penser à celle de Dan Tyminsky chantant la culte ‘I Am a Man in Constant Sorrow’ du film O’ Brother, Where Art Thou des Frères Coen. Il nous plonge dans son univers blues et parvient rapidement à exalter la petite foule des Etoiles de ses morceaux tour à tour graves et euphoriques. L’émotion qui émane de ses compositions plus sombres rappelle celle, vibrante, du film à bande originale des plus folk, Alabama Monroe, de Felix Van Groeningen.
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Aurora Aksnes est une auteure compositrice interprète norvégienne de 19 ans. J’ai la chance de la rencontrer à l’ancien Théâtre Les Etoiles reconverti en salle de concert où elle se produit le soir même. Dans la petite loge à l’étage, elle me salue d’une poignée de main ferme mais chaleureuse, me complimente sur ma veste bleue électrique, et c’est parti pour l’interview.
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MXXI – What inspires you to write your music?
“When I was young, classical music inspired me a lot, and Bob Dylan, and Leonard Cohen, because they told these beautiful stories and they wrote so beautifully about both beautiful and horrible things at the same time, which I really like. I consider myself a storyteller as well. What I love about them is that they can really make a change with their lyrics, they make them as powerful as speech, and even more powerful than speech. But I’m also inspired by the world, by nature, by the rain, and by people. To see people be sad or happy and experience the good and bad can be very inspiring, because you can see how people handle things, and how they act. I think feelings are everything that inspire me.”
MXXI – What about films and literature?
“Well, I mainly just watch fantasy movies. I love the Harry Potter films, the Lord of the Rings films, the old Narnia, and the old Star Wars. I read a lot of fantasy books all the time. I feel like I must be a bit inspired by that because I read so much.”
MXXI – We can perceive those influences in your music videos. Where were they taken?
“Runaway, my first music video, was filmed in my garden mainly, because I basically live in the forest. Wolves was filmed on the countryside in a weird, weird place in England.”
MXXI – Do you compose on your own?
“I compose on my own, mostly, that’s why I prefer if most of the songs I can actually use are written by myself. I connect with them more because they come from within. I’ve been trying to write with people, one year ago, I went around travelling a lot, and I tried to write more radio-friendly music because I can be quite out of it if I don’t have someone pulling me back from being a bit too weird. You’ll see more of that in the album, I guess.”
MXXI – When is your album coming out?
“In the beginning of next year, but it is done now almost.”
MXXI – What is your favorite part of the job, writing the music, working in the studio, being on stage, making music videos?
“Being in the studio rehearsing with the band and making the music.”
MXXI – What music do you listen to?
“I listen to lots of movie tracks, mostly from John Williams and James Horner, they made the Forest Gump track and many others beautiful ones. It makes me feel like I’m in a movie. I listen a lot to heavy metal too like Gojira, Mastodon… My favorite song right now, must be ‘Image-Autumn-Womb’ by Goldmund. ‘Suzanne’ by Leonard Cohen […] And I really like Vulnicura by Björk […]. I mainly listen to strange music and old records, I don’t have Itunes or Spotify […].”
MXXI – Do you ever sing in Norwegian?
“No, it’s too personal, almost. There would be no barrier between you, and the person singing. It’s easier to be a bit of an actor when singing so you are not only yourself, because otherwise it’s scary and makes you feel vulnerable. So it helps to sing in English, for me at least. One day, maybe I will. I think I want to have one original folk song in Norwegian in my album.”
MXXI – You said you considered yourself a storyteller. Is there a particular message or emotion you wish to convey throughout your work?
“When I started writing when I was 9, I just wrote songs to help myself. Back then, my goal was to feel lighter afterwards. But now, I write hoping that people out there can feel connected, understood. When you have a voice that people listen to, you can use that chance to do something good with it. I just want to write music that help people.”
MXXI – Is there one song that you’ve composed that has more meaning to you than the others?
“On my album, there would be a song called ‘Through the eyes of a child’, which is about seeing the world as a child again, because then everything is more innocent and beautiful than when you understand how everything works. That song means a lot to me, because everything that happens with everyone affects me a lot. And I think it’s why I write songs, to process all these feelings.”
MXXI – Who would you like to sing with?
“Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen. That would be very cool.”
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Aurora dégage de la finesse de la force. Des papillons blancs dans sa chevelure argent clair, Aurora, presque féérique, débarque sur la scène, accompagnée de Selma, qui chante son harmonie, Magnus à la batterie, Alph à la guitare et au chant, et Omartin au xylophone. Sa voix contraste avec son apparence légèrement enfantine, tant elle est mature et contrôlée. Aurora, expressive, semble se plaire à la faire varier avec aisance, soprano/alto, alto/soprano. Lorsque Selma chante son harmonie, la distinction des deux voix est à peine perceptible. La gestuelle de l’artiste traduit son désir de transmission d’émotions vers son public frissonnant de plaisir. Elle nous raconte, de ses yeux fermés, apaisés, puis soudain écarquillés, sourcils froncés ; elle nous rassure, de ses bras fins et élégants elle dessine le sens de ses mots, secoue sa chevelure presque futuriste. Le son est tour à tour doux tel une berceuse et d’un coup la tension monte, s’électrise en rythme avec les coups de baguettes frappés sur la batterie de Magnus. Le concert se clôt par le retour sur scène d’Aurora pour une dernière chanson. Elle s’approprie ‘Life on Mars’ de David Bowie, grâce à de sublimes variantes, si bien qu’il serait difficile pour beaucoup de décider laquelle des deux versions est la meilleure.
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Merci à nos partenaires The Talent Boutique pour cette opportunité d’interview & live report.
Angélique KV
