IN CONVERSATION WITH PARALLELLE

interview by EMMANUELLE PLANTIER

It’s up in the mountain, at the occasion of the Caprices Festival Gstaad that we had the privilege to discuss with French DJ duo Parallelle. The festival is the perfect blend of music, culture and environment, as eclectic as Parallelle’s music. Brothers in real life, Thomas and Julien de Bie invoke childhood memories to craft colourful and inspiring sounds, touring around the world to share immaculate vibes. In addition, they released a special project titled « A Day In », where they travel the globe encountering locals and creating music with them. 

What are the main inspiration behind your unique sound?

T. We when were young, our dad made us listen to jazz music a lot and later we discovered hip-hop also through The Source Magazine. A big revelation for us was when our parents took us to a jazz festival in Nice, France called Cimiez and we discovered ‘The Roots’ and ‘Birdy Nam Nam’ who played on four vinyl turntable a highly jazz influenced hip-hop. It really shaped us, we bought CDJs turntables and I even went to a music school to learn how to scratch. So we have a lot of jazz grooves and riffs and hip-hop drums in our music.

How does being a duo influences your creative process?

T. We are brothers so we have been jamming since we were kids, it’s in our blood, we are already aligned in a lot of things. And I always say that it’s better to have two pairs of ears to get some feedback. Even if you’re a solo DJ, you always have to have a little feedback from your friends or people in the industry to say if you are doing something right.

J. What’s good here too, over the years, is that we’ve learned to give each other space to do things ourselves, and then we ping pong our ideas. We send each others’ project and add or modify things if needed.

What do you like the most about Caprices Festival Gstaad?

J. Definitely the mountain and the scenery. Yeah. Oh yeah, it’s a crazy thing. We played in Caprices Crans Montana in 2020, and also the one in Marrakech.

T. The fact that you have go to the festival in a chair lift is great in itself, and the mountain holds a certain magic to it. Also we grew up in the South, next to the French Alps, we were skiing before we could even walk. The mountain has a special place in our heart. And the Caprices organization is very professional, the production is incredible and the technique is flawless. We also love the Swiss crowd, we think it is one of the best in Europe.

What is the most special thing about the festival’s location to you?

J. Definitely the fact that we play at the top of the mountain and everything is open. You can see the sun setting behind the mountain while you play, it’s magic. It also pushes you to play more groovy, jazzy music and to implement more vocals. The place definitely influences the colour of the sound. When you play in a club you tend to create a sound that is more edgy and dark, and here it is the opposite.

How do you curate your sets to keep the energy going the whole time?

T. We see the sets like waves, it has to flow. It has to be a journey at the end of the story. At the beginning you want attract people into something sexy, soothing and then get a little more ferocious. But it’s always like a wave, moving and changing.

J. We never want to stay in the same style. We love Detroit house and techno, everything that is raw.

T. And we merge these with disco sounds, jazz baselines and we adore to implement vocals like a rapper, or James Brown or Brazilian singing. Even when there is no vocals I can be the one singing.

You launched a special project last year called « A Day In », where you travel around the world to create electronic music blended with traditional sounds. Can you tell us what this project represented to you?

J. For us, it’s pure inspiration. And it’s also, the more you travel, the more you realize that music is perceived completely differently, depending on the cultures. The rhythms are completely different, the way music is told is different, the melodies, the harmonies, it’s crazy. Arabic, Southern American, Icelandic music will be completely different from Western music. It’s all about discovering as much as possible in the world. We are feeding of all of this, to change our productions, to open our spirits and hearts. It’s also about meeting people, at the end of the day we are very social. Every episodes that we have done so far, it is things that have arrived naturally.

T. For the next episode in Iceland, we are making a 20 minute format to show the whole process, the inspirations, the ideas we have by collaborating with local musicians. For the previous ones there was no story, and now you get all the explanation in advance, that we can use to make fusion music and modern music.

You are going to play two shows at this year’s ADE. What do you think of the Amsterdam’s electronic music scene?

T. We talked about our hip hop, jazz beginnings, but our electronic music starts were in Amsterdam. Our first raves were in 2012 in the Netherlands, that’s where we started.

J. We saw Dixon, John Talabo, Amey, Laurent Garnier, Frank Wiedemann, John Talabo, Bob Astin live in Amsterdam and Den Haag, and after that we decided to join forces and make music together.

T. It really opened us to electronic music, we even were residents at Marktkantine before it closes.

What memory of a show is the most precious to you?

T. I would say that Wonder Fruit in Pattaya, Thailand was a memorable event. For me, and I think for Julien too, it is in my top 3 best festivals in the world. There’s a dozen stages, but one in particular named « Polygon » is a dome hosting 3000 people. We played there and worked with the team of L Acoustic, a soundsytem brand to map the stage and put speakers all around it to make the sound travel in three dimensions.

J. We spent weeks with the technicians to organize everything, what movements the sound will do. We took all the musics from the Day In and we divided them into 23 tracks stereo tracks.

T. For the last track, we brought on stage the musicians that did the Day In Bangkok with us as a surprise, and they played the guitar and the saw duang (a thai violin), it was a very emotional, magical moment.

Which track you never get tired of?

J. For me it would be Llorca « The End ». It’s a super easy jazz track. You have a great bassline, it’s my go-to track to start my day on.

T. « It’s On » by George Duke. It’s kind of the same vibe, it’s slow jazz. When we get home at the end of the day, we only listen to jazz music.

How would you describe your personal fashion style?

J. I have a pretty sporty style, I wear a lot of caps, sneakers, there’s some urban influences in what I wear, but still keeping it simple, not over-the-top.

T. And I always have a little vintage vibe, old vests, belts. A pretty 60’s, 70’s aesthetic mixed with a little streetwear too.

Can you tell us a bit about some exciting upcoming projects of yours?

T. We are going to release a new album soon, and we’re going towards sexy, groovy funk. We are adding a lot of vocals, we recorded Brazilian people in Rio de Janeiro for the back vocals, to bring some soul influence.

J. We will keep up with the Day In, and unlike the previous ones that we would remix and make more adaptable to festivals and Spotify, we want to keep these new ones cinematic and experimental. We want nice stories, and focus on sound recordings, moments, ambient nature sounds.

T. So we’re going to separate these two universes, while keeping our touch in both. It’s probably going to affect the type of audience, but it represents us, in the end. The two represent us.

black and white photography DIOGO BARROSO
beach photography HANNA BESIREVIC