I’m traveling to Barcelona to speak at a marketing conference for my day gig and checking the touring schedules, as I often do, to see who might be playing in town during that time. As this is my first trip to Spain, I have no idea what the scene is like or what to expect, but I see that French musician and producer extraordinaire Gautier Serre’s Igorrr project will be making an appearance at Razzmatazz, the renowned music venue in Barcelona.
I reach out to the publicist at Metal Blade Records to ask for a photo pass to do a feature on the show, and he makes the necessary arrangements and adds an interview. I fly into Barcelona, speak at the marketing conference, then run over to the venue to meet with the visionary behind Igorrr. We find a table and chairs behind the venue in what looks like an industrial park of sorts. Gautier Serre is French and speaks excellent English. He’s unassuming and not quite who I expected to meet after listening to his music and watching his groundbreaking cinematic videos.
I jump right into the conversation and ask the big question: If you had to describe your music in one word, what would it be? He replies without hesitation, “Myself.” He goes on to describe that he created his style of music because there simply wasn’t anything out there that was like it. So he began mashing up very different types of music, including black and death metal, baroque music, breakcore, and trip-hop. Doing so provides him with a “form of total musical freedom.”
Igorrr’s music can be described as “totally insane” and “makes you laugh and cry at the same time” and is currently ranking on the weirdest bands of all time list. But I think that’s an understatement. While it may come across as “weird” in the traditional sense, for the music fan looking for something fresh and new, this is the holy grail. It begs the question, what will the future of music look like? I would say very close to this.
Serre mentioned in a recent interview that live, he is the one behind the machines. His current set-up is a baroque opera singer, a death metal singer, an insanely good drummer, and himself, “behind the machines.” Serre is the one programming the music, effects, transitions, digital instruments, etc. I was curious what his thoughts were on the rise of artificial intelligence and what effect it will have on creativity, specifically music.
“There is always going to be a human input to the machines,” says Serre, “so I’m not too worried about them taking over.” I mention to him that just last year an AI platform wrote a Christmas Song and how it wasn’t THAT terrible. “I’d like to hear that song, I wasn’t aware,” he replies.
Igorrr’s music relies heavily on contrast. The softness of the Baroque style opera combined with the extreme death metal makes for an exciting combination. The two genres contrast one another so dramatically that the heavy parts come across as ten times heavier than anything you’ve ever heard. Add the cinematic videography and you have the makings for something no one has ever seen before.
It’s quite remarkable what goes into making an Igorrr album, and I ask Serre if he is a perfectionist, to which he replies with a definitive “Yes.” He tells me the story of a particular harpsichord that he wanted on the record. “I wanted to work with harpsichord player Katerina Chrobokova on this album. She lives in the Czech Republic and my studio is in the deep countryside in the center of France. We had to rent a truck to bring her harpsichord from Prague to my studio, and then to wait for the instrument to get the temperature of the room for her to be able to play perfectly in tune.” This is just one of the many intricacies that make the new record Savage Sinusoid so special and unique.
When I ask who he thinks is creating good music currently, he mentions Meshuggah. As to what he’s currently listening to, he tells me that they are listening to a lot of traditional Indian music on the bus while on tour. I have to ask if this is going to be prevalent on the next record and he replies, “Who knows? We are always writing, and there is already new music in the works.”
My final question for Serre involved his passion for classical music. I would guess that there are a ton of metalheads out there who don’t listen to classical music but would like to give it a shot—what’s the one piece of music he would recommend starting out with to which he replies instantly, “Moonlight Sonata, it’s not a cultural thing, it’s a human thing. You cannot, not like this piece—it’s perfect.”
Igorrr continues their European tour in support of their latest release Savage Sinusoid. See this show and prepare to have your mind completely blown and witness what the apocalypse will look and sound like—in musical form.
Check out high res shots from the show in the gallery here.
