L'indécis - Moka EP

Pretty talented, isn't he? And because we really like talented people (almost as much as we like a nice aperitif...ok, we'll stop now, it's a bit early for a tipple), who tell a story through their music, we decided to delve a little into the world of L'indécis. If you can't be bothered with all this blogging business, you can scroll down to the bottom of the page and listen to his EP there (we're pretty kind, we know). If you've decided to stay with us, then this post is all about Arnaud's early life, his passion for music and his latest release, Moka, an EP that's as brilliantly indecisive as its creator, whose name means 'ditherer' in English.

Arnaud's mother was a guitar teacher who passed him the music bug by getting him a guitar aged 6. Once he was done with the classical stuff, he moved onto rock, attending lessons until he was 17. Although hip hop came into his life a little later, it's the style to which he's most faithful today. "What I love about hip hop is how it mixes different genres", he explains. And looking at the likes of Jazzmatazz, Afrika Bambataa and Jazzy Jeff, as well as all of the hybrid movements that hip hop has created or influenced across the decades, we can't help but agree.

And so, Arnaud left his guitars to gather dust, focusing on composing music rather than doing his best Slash impression. He built a home studio in his bedroom, with the kind of equipment that will make the audio fans among you drool: a Behringer U-Control UMX49 master keyboard, an SE Electronics SE2200a condenser microphone, a Focusrite Scarlet 2i4 audio interface and a Native Instruments Maschine controller.

He released his debut hip hop project, Monday Chill, in September 2014. The plan was to drop a new track each week to stave off the monday blues, a bit like what we do with our own Limo compilations. This innovative endeavour led to him being featured on YouTube channel Chillhop - which boasts over 65,000 subscribers at last count - where he gained a bigger audience. In March 2015 he released his first mini EP Celeste on the Cult Classic Records label, a collection of five airy, ambient offerings that are closer to trip hop than classic hip hop. To give you an idea of what that entailed - and also to break up this rather wordy article - here's one of the tracks, Lost:

Not-so-dithery Arnaud also released a compilation called Biggie Remixs at the end of last year, comprising three ace reworkings of Notorious B.I.G tracks. And being the sort of gent he is, he's giving them away for free. But the real reason we've chosen to dedicate this article to him is his newly-released EP, Moka, a metaphor for his daily routine. According to Arnaud: "Morning Rituals are followed by driving (Sunset Drive) and music (Heaven). Then we skip a little further in the day with tracks like Happy Hours and Homebound. The final track, Moka, sort of restarts the process".

As for our own interpretation, we're fans of the excellent guitar riff on Sunrise Drive, which has a lot in common with Tom Misch's work. We also love the soulful, jazzy Happy Hours, Estelle Fege's beautiful vocals on Heaven and the magic of Homebound, which is without a doubt our favourite track and the one which captivated us the most. We also enjoyed Moka, which as Arnaud has already explained rounds things off nicely by kicking off the start of a new day (it translates as mocha, in case the album art didn't give that away). As well as sweet and subtle vocals, there are more of the excellent guitar interludes which bind the whole EP together.

And so, that's more or less everything you need to know about L'indécis' musical journey, and his wonderful new record. If you like his music, why not give him a shout via his Facebook page, download Moka on Chillhop Records' Bandcamp page or give him a follow on Soundcloud?

Now, stop dithering! Cheers ;)