Last week, we debuted a unique musical and visual experience: the latest from electronic production duo Louis Vivet. Continuing on their successful streak of reconstructing songs that inspire them into their own voice, they created their own version of Miike Snow's "Silvia," and to create the whole picture, crafted a graphic novel to coordinate with the release.
Further to that, we got to chat with the guys about their background and making the track. And as an added bonus, they've joined us for an exclusive guest mix.
EARMILK: How did you guys meet?
Louis Vivet: We met in college at USC. The home of many upcoming artists like Dr. Fresch, Justin Jay, and Matt Dimona just to name a few (love you guys).
EM: What did you bond over in music? And how did that help you figure out that you wanted to work together?
LV: Funny enough our bond started over our love for all things moombahton. We both loved the genre and and the artists such as Dillon Francis and Nadastrom.
While everyone was playing out Tiesto, we couldn’t stop listening to that sweet midtempo music. We still love it to this day. But it wasn't until much later that we started producing music together. You could say it was our mutual taste in music that made us realize we should be working together. It actually makes our work flow much easier because we rarely disagree on the “direction” we should take in a new track. And even as our tastes have changed quite a bit since our moombahton days, we have still managed to like the same types of music (Tame Impala, Galantis, etc.). It’s very strange actually. We’re pretty much the same person, hence how we got the inspiration for Louis Vivet.
EM: Who inspired each of you early on in your career versus now?
LV: It’s hard to name one person because there have been so many influences, but we both would actually have to say Christian Karlsson. We’ve followed his career as fans for such a long time – he continually inspires us. The guy has his hand in so many genres of music it’s amazing. He’s produced hits for Britney Spears, was a part of the indie pop band Miike Snow, and he now makes dance music with Galantis. That’s exactly the type of act we want to be. Artists who are not confined to one particular genre, but ones who can move people no matter what type of music they create.
EM: What attracted you to electronic music?
LV: The lasers, obviously.
No but in all honesty it’s hard to pin point. There is just something about electronic music that’s hard not to love. There’s a genre out there for every type of mood you could possibly be in, which allows you to listen to it 24/7. That must be why we love it so much.
EM: What was your familiarity with the original Louis Vivet/how did you come across him?
LV: Well like we said started to explain a little earlier, we are very similar to one another in some ways, but simultaneously, polar opposites in others. I (Aria) was a civil engineer at USC and then a Law Student and I (Nick) am currently majoring in art and graphic design, so the differences are very evident. From there, we took that idea and just ran with it. Not too long later, we came across the story of this guy Louis Vivet and the rest is history.
EM: Tell us a bit about your most recent work – what attracted you to "Silvia" as something you wanted to redo yourself?
LV: After the success of our first release ‘Save Tonight’, we realized we had to make another cover. As we mentioned earlier, we are both huge fans of Christian Karlsson and Miike Snow so ‘Silvia’ almost naturally came to mind for us. We thought to ourselves though that we would have to completely re-imagine the song if we were going to do the original justice.
Also, a lot of people don't realize the original ‘Silvia’ did not have a proper chorus. This allowed us to basically write a new chorus with Jordan Humphrey and a new twist to the song. So its safe to say ‘Silvia’ is half cover, half original.
EM: Can you tell us about the vocals on the track, how did you link up with this one?
LV: We met Jordan Humphrey a while back through our managers. We actually wrote a song that day that turned out amazing so we knew we had to work together again. When we had about 60% of the production for ‘Silvia’ done, we started to brainstorm possible vocalists and Jordan instantly came to mind. He has that perfect falsetto that can make grown men weep. I (Aria) actually shed a tear when we recorded the section for the bridge. Definitely be on the lookout for this guy.
EM: What can we expect from you in the rest of this year?
LV: A LOT of new music with a LOT of different vibes. As you can tell, we really do not like sticking to one genre of music. We don’t want to create songs that are strictly dance, pop, or indie. Instead, we look to fuse different areas of music to create something completely different. (We may not always succeed…but at the very least, we try). We know it may not appeal to hardcore genre enthusiasts out there but we feel that’s what separates us from the rest of the crowd. And we hope that’s what our fans out there enjoy the most.
EM: And lastly – something a little different – what's something we might be surprised is in each of your music libraries?
LV: For me (Aria), its got to be Underoath. I used to love hardcore bands (I can’t believe I just admitted that). ‘Reinventing Your Exit ‘is still one of my favorite songs. And for me (Nick), there are a plethora of pop songs that would make any grown man cringe…I’m actually pretty “basic” at heart.
Tracklist:
- Louis Vivet – Silvia (feat. Jordan Humphrey)
- Ivan Gough, Walden & Jebu – Home (feat. Penelope Austin) [Manila Killa Remix]
- Flume – Insane (feat. Moon Holiday)
- Louis Vivet – Downbeat (feat. Gavrielle)
- Dirty South feat. SomeKindaWonderful – Tunnel Vision
- Eric Prydz – Pjanoo (Eric's Intro Edit)
- Xylo – America
- Phantogram – Fall In Love (NEUS Remix)
- Madeon – Innocence (feat. Aquilo)
- Peking Duk – High
- Louis Vivet – ID
- Porter Robinson – Sad Machine
- Carousel – Let's Go Home (Sound Remedy Remix)
- Zella Day – Compass (Young Bombs Remix)
- Pylot – Flashbacks (Original Mix)
- Pharrell – Gust of Wind feat. Daft Punk (Autograf Remix)
- Strange Fruit – No Words
- Stardust – Music Sounds Better With You (Giraffage Remix)
- Ed Sheeran – I See Fire (Kygo Remix)
- Great Good Fine Ok – Not Going Home
- Basic Tape – Sunny Spell
- The M Machine-Don't Speak (Manila Killa Remix)
- cYsmix – Misty Woods (Volant Remix)
- Louis Vivet – ID
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