After making some serious waves with their brilliant debut album ‘The Whole Story’ last year, French outfit Astral Bakers have been quick to establish themselves as one of the more captivating additions to the modern shoegaze scene. And with a breadth of dazzling delights under their belts in recent months, they return once again to deliver their woozy new offering ‘A Dog In A Manger’.
So with the new single available to stream now, we sat down with them to find out more about their background and where they plan to take their sound next.
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Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you got started in music?
We have four different stories : Théodora started playing bass guitar to be part of a rock band when she was a teenager, Zoé started studying drums when she was very young until she graduated from the drum school. Ambroise studied classical music, being part of a famous french choir and Nico started guitar very young and studied for several years in a music school.
Then Ambroise got a first band, Revolver, that was quite a success, allowing him to get into professional music. Same for Théodora with her former band Theodore, Paul & Gabriel. Zoé and Nico had many experiences as touring musicians for some french bands before gathering altogether and start Astral Bakers.
Who are your biggest musical influences and how have they shaped your sound?
Each one of us has his own musical background but we have a bunch of strong influences that get everyone on the same page : Big Thief, Kurt Vile, Cate Le Bon or Andy Shauf for example.
What shaped our sound is maybe the way we record our songs. We play all together at the same time, without a clic track, which means that the writing of the music must be done before we start recording. And everyone must find his part so the songs can be shaped based only on our four instruments, and some vocals
Was there a specific moment or experience that made you decide to pursue music seriously?
Once again we have four different stories but what we share is the conviction to be in the right place when we play together. Maybe we could say that we decided to pursue this band on a very special night. We played our first concert ever without having recorded anything but memos with our phones, so nobody knew what they were going to hear. It was a very special night for us. We had a great time and the audience was amazing. After the concert we knew that we wanted to go further in the process and that’s how The Whole Story, our first LP, was created.
Can you walk us through your typical songwriting process?
It’s kind of always the same: one of us has a new idea and plays it in the studio and when it appears that it could be a good start for a new song, we start playing all together. We fine tune the structure and the chords, sometimes even a riff pops out and onces we think we have the whole song, we start recording it. Sometimes we can have a new song recorded in only a few days.
Well of course sometimes it is way harder to find the key to finish it…
How do you find inspiration for your music and lyrics?
We have the chance to be in a band where each of us is able to write music and lyrics which makes things much easier to grow our inspiration as a band, influenced or pushed by eachother in a good way to create as much as possible and to share it.
When we compose, one of us would arrive with a very advanced piece of music or lyrics (sometimes just a few notes) and every one would participate in the building of the track trying to bring its sensibility to it. And then we get all inspired by each other.
What themes or messages do you hope listeners take away from your music?
We approach various themes on our music, most of the time very personal points of view draw by each of us as lead singer, but we believe everyone can find a piece of the lyrics that he can relate to.
What challenges have you faced as an emerging artist in the music industry?
We have to make our audience grow every day by existing as much as possible on social networks (despite the political and ethical issues currently).
It’s not only about writing music and touring, we also have to promote our band through every possible canal and it takes a lot of time, but in the end it will pay off !
What has been the most rewarding aspect of your musical journey so far?
We are very grateful to have found each other and to be able to make music together nearly every day. It is not that easy to find the perfect music companions who have the right balance as a band, in addition to our musical influences.
How do you stay true to yourself and your artistry in a constantly evolving industry?
Being a band helps remaining true to ourselves, as it’s challenging to be four different minds creating one entity. We spend a lot of time exchanging about our various visions of music, about our needs, and how we could improve ourselves as a group. We think collectively about how to pursue our musical dreams without losing our true core. We feel aligned about the idea that our ambition has to be fed by creativity, not the other way around!
What can fans expect from you in the near future? Any upcoming projects or tours?
So we just released this new tune « a dog in a manger » that marks the beginning of a new era. New songs are expected, and at the horizon -next fall!- a new album!
In parallel we’re gonna keep touring in the upcoming months, in Germany, in the UK, Austria and France. We’re very excited to play festivals such as Great Escape in Brighton!
Where do you see yourself and your music career in the next five years?
Our ultimate dream would be to have fan bases all over the old continent! So if things go well we see our baking selves touring a lot in Europe, releasing regularly albums that would keep being meaningful and special to us, and to the audience. There is bread on the board (il y a du pain sur la planche) as we say in France!
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Watch the video for Astral Bakers’ new single ‘A Dog In A Manger’ below.
