Interview with COLLECTION D’ARNELL-ANDRÉA

Automatic translation. Improvements are constantly being worked on.

“… an evocation of nature.”

Facts:
– Although co-founder Pascal Andréa left the band before the first live performance, the formation around Jean-Christophe d’Arnell kept the name.
– This year the formation is celebrating its 35th anniversary!

“A Forest Inside” is already available digitally, and Collection d’Arnell-Andréa ‘s twelfth album was recently released on CD with a 16-page booklet. Vinyl lovers will also get their money’s worth at the beginning of 2024. We talk to mastermind Jean-Christophe about inner forests, merging with nature and the path to more electronic sounds.

Inner forests?
Orkus: How did you come up with the title “A Forest Inside” or did the song exist first?
Jean-Christophe d’Arnell: The song was composed long before the question of the album title arose. He asks, once again, about the relationship between man and nature: a complex, intimate relationship up to this form of fusion: “Am I a flower? Am I a bud?”… This inner forest represents this essential, almost vital part of nature that man carries within himself or to which he aspires: a lavish, fantasized forest, a forest tomb … an eternal forest.

Fusion
O: Is there a common thread?
JCdA: From the point of view of the texts, the common thread could be the very particular way in which the question of ecology is approached: This is neither about guilt nor despair, but about an evolution, a return to basics; an invitation to man to finally merge with nature, to the point of the ultimate hope of becoming a constituent element and thus striving for a little eternity: ‘Lichen on My Name’. The second similarity is the much more electro-heavy treatment of the compositions; this orchestration expresses feelings of revolt and doubt in the face of a rather bleak ecological reality. After all, each of the titles describes in a more or less explicit way man’s struggle with the natural world around him and his difficult and often painful awareness of the evolution that has been forced upon us.

Maschinen
O: As you’ve already mentioned, the songs are much more electronic and very danceable. How did this come about?
JCdA: Originally, all the songs were composed exclusively from synthesizers and rhythm programming; on this basis, which is by definition very electro-heavy, Chloé has developed her song lines and already certain choruses. This is probably the main source of inspiration: lots of machines and Chloé’s voice, which is an evocation of nature.

Colorful sadness?
O: The album starts strongly with “The Colour of Your Mind”. How did it come about?
JCdA: It explicitly evokes the last moments of a life, the last breath. This title could also have appeared on our previous album “Another Winter”, whose only theme was sadness. It also seemed interesting to us to start this new album with a title in which the question of the “end” plays a major role and whose electro-technical dimension clearly announces the color.

Back to the roots?
O: What about “Waiting for Meaulnes”? To what extent is it a homage to “Le grand Meaulnes”?
JCdA: “Waiting for Meaulnes” does indeed refer to the famous novel by Alain Fournier. It is also and above all a return to our own musical journey, as this novel “Le grand Meaulnes” was the sole source of inspiration for our first concept album “Un Automne à Loroy” (1989). So I can only confirm the idea that artists tend to always plow the same furrow.

Paradox?
O: In general, the album is melancholic on the one hand, but also very danceable on the other. Are those two hearts beating in your chest?
JCdA: Yes, probably! A strong tendency towards melancholy (or rather nostalgia) has always accompanied me, as well as a certain form of very positive and dynamic energy (even optimism!) … a paradox that inevitably shines through in CDAA’s compositions and in my musical tastes from time immemorial.

Looking to the future
O: What are your plans for the near future?
JCdA: We are also continuing to work on the artwork for the vinyl edition of the album (the release is planned for early 2024) with Meidosem Records, a label that we have also promised to get very serious about the vinyl re-release of our album “Les Marronniers” (1992). On a more personal level, I’m working on very “synthwavy” and very old compositions (1983/1984!) from one of my first music projects “Visiteurs du Soir”. Most of these songs were never recorded. The idea is therefore to rework them as much as possible after a “live” recording with the synthesizers and drum machines I used at the time (Korg KR 55, Korg DDD1, Korg MS 20, etc.) in order to record them in a recording studio in the near future … a real challenge!

Formative albums:

Kraftwerk – “Trans Europa Express” (1977)
A real shock: her compositions seemed to me to be both simple and minimalist and terribly complex and rigorous; in short, her project was like an invitation to experiment, to abandon all complexities in terms of creation and to develop a real passion for repetitive and electronic music.

Nine Inch Nails – “And All That Could Have Been” (live, 2002)
A perfect album, expressing emotions of incredible sensitivity (perfectly rendered especially by the quality of the sound recording) and continuous power, ready to turn into “industrial energy” at the first opportunity. A band that I remain loyal to despite the sometimes very inconsistent production.

Dead Can Dance – “Dead Can Dance”
An obvious influence for our first album “Un Automne à Loroy”: the alternation of male and female voices, the use of acoustic instruments (cello, timpani) in a Dark Wave line-up, the convergence of two musical universes (Rock and Symphonic music), literary and figurative references, a careful aesthetic full of mystery… For all these reasons, the universes of DCD and us were often compared and mentioned in our early days (album reviews). We should even have opened for them at one of their very first concerts in Paris. But the organizer failed to get in touch with us in time, this meeting on stage will never have taken place!

Claudia Zinn-Zinnenburg

Line-up:
Chloé – Vocals
Carine – Piano, Synthesizer
Franz – Bass, Guitar, Vocals
Thibault – Viola
Vincent – Electric Guitar
Xavier – Cello
Jean-Christophe – Synthesizer, Drums, Vocals

You can read the review of “A Forest Inside” here: