Ooma presents their new work, Lucid Dreams, a piece with a two minutes long, atmospheric, piano-centric buildup, which leads to a tight, perfectly recorded, intriguing groove, as delicious as the wild raspberries in August. Read our discussion with the band below!
Describe your sound in 3 words
floaty sensual groove
Your sound contains exciting, solid grooves blended with jazzy elements but with a pop sensibility. Tell us a few things about your creative process.
My taste in music is really quite eclectic in that I listen to a variety of genres – folk, jazz, soul, electro, disco, metal… the list goes on! That probably translates to a certain extent in my own compositions. What I think it really comes down to is not overthinking the writing process and not trying to force myself into a particular mold, rather writing in a way that feels good to me.
The next step is taking it to the band and obviously who you play with has an enormous influence on the final sound. Our pianist Florian Berret lends a certain jazz sensibility to the sound. All the groove comes from our rhythm section; Hélios Mikhaïl on drums and Nicolas Bauer on bass. Nicolas also lends his expertise to the arrangements which blend all these different elements. In short, Ooma’s sound is the sum of all its members.
Tell us a song with such a great groove you wish you had composed yourself.
It’s hard to choose just one, but “Morning Light” from Nubiyan Twist’s album “Freedom Fables” always gets my head bopping….it’s perfect in its simplicity
Favourite album from the past decade?
For a very long time my favourite album was Queens of the Stoneage’s “Songs for the Deaf” 🙂
I have to say though Hiatus Kaiyote’s latest album “Mood Valiant” blows everything else out of the water for me…I must have listened to it 10 times or more. Their arrangements are always so surprising, and the production is insane.
How do you relate to the music scene of Paris?
The music scene here is a bit of a melting pot, as is the case in most big cities. Having studied at a jazz school here I feel myself particularly connected to this aspect…the jam sessions are a great way to meet people and make connections. Ooma will be hitting the scene soon enough and I’m excited to see how people will react and where in the mix we will fit in.
What does success mean for you going forward?
Success as far as I’m concerned is being able to do what I love for a living whilst keeping a roof over my head! Anything more is the cherry on top.
If you could change anything about the music industry, what would it be?
The spotify/apple music model, whilst appealing to the consumer, is absolutely bleeding musicians dry….I think some sort of reform which puts more money in the artist’s pocket is desperately needed.
Favourite music related film?
Easy. The Blues Brothers
Thank you!
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