Formula Indie Sessions _ Interview with Orti Sumus
Laurent is answering the questions, but the answers reflect the band’s opinion
What is your earliest memory connected to music?
Laurent: Probably the music we listened to at home when I was a kid, which was mainly classical music.
How did your passion for creating music begin?
It is a complex process, like a reservoir fed by many different sources: literature, poetry, visual arts, cinema, and also the experiences of everyday life. The musician is a transmitter: he gathers thoughts, filters emotions, and gives them a new, unique form. This transmission occurs from mind to mind, from heart to heart. It is this intention that drives us when we compose and perform.
What’s the story behind your current music project?
We were session musicians for a long time; we played together with all kinds of bands—rock, country, gospel, and more. After a while, we felt the need to explore our own musical territory, to bring out all the music we couldn’t really express as sidemen.
How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?
A soundscape featuring acoustic elements, electro grooves, and slam poetry. Sometimes it’s completely acoustic; other times it’s groovy and more electro-oriented. Poetry finds its way into this soundscape.
What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?
If you put in a certain amount of effort over a certain period of time, you’ll get results… You have to be 100% focused on the work because that’s the only part of the job you can control. Inspiration is much more unpredictable—sometimes it’s there, sometimes not… Basically, if you only work when you’re inspired, it’s like wanting to go skiing only when there’s powder snow and the weather is nice—which isn’t very often… It’s the consistency of your workflow that delivers results.
What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?
We use a variety of traditional instruments: acoustic fretless bass, percussion, clarinet, keyboards, and some less common ones like the handpan and electronic wind instruments. We also use loopers, samplers, and groove boxes, but the songs are built entirely on stage by playing everything live.
Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?
We don’t really care whether an artist is indie or not. In fact, we don’t care about style or labels. Among the artists we’re listening recently are Rodolphe Burger, Murcoff, the Young Gods, GoGoPenguin, Nils Frahm, and Laibach—you see, it’s pretty eclectic.
How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?
We have very different musical backgrounds: Pascal is more into pop and rock. I come from a classical, jazz and experimental music background. It’s the tension between these two poles that gives our sound its unique character. As for our artistic vision, it’s also tied to the worlds we explore: as a lyricist, I read everything from Beat poetry to classical Chinese poets, haikus, Withmann, Poe, Rimbaud, Miller—I could go on and on… Our music is full of references, but we don’t want to make music for scholars or intellectuals. A quality work should be accessible to everyone. Everyone should be able to find something in it
What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?
We have some control over the process, over the work we do. However, we have no control over how our work will be received or the emotions it will evoke. Every lyric, every piece of music can mean something different to each person. It would be terrible if everyone felt the same emotion when listening to our music… We hope our music will touch people emotionally, perhaps make them think. We listen to the world—its energy, its tragedies, its beauty. We’re not here to give lessons, but to bear witness. If we can create an emotion, a real connection… then we’ve succeeded.
What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?
In this era marked by the rise of AI, one might wonder whether it’s even worth making music anymore. We’re convinced that only what has meaning, personality, and is truly creative stands a chance of staying afloat in the ocean of slop content churned out every day. The guys who think they can write hits and make a fortune without any musical knowledge are sadly mistaken…
What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?
The Montreux Jazz Festival is close to our hearts, partly because it’s right near where we live. But really, any venue with a truly attentive audience and a great vibe is fine by us. The quality of the experience isn’t necessarily tied to the prestige of the venue where you’re playing.
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?
It would be really amazing to work with Rick Rubin. The guy isn’t a musician, but he has a knack for bringing out the best in the people he works with.
There’s also Daniel Lanois, who’s an incredible producer. Lanois has an incomparable way of shaping sound—at once completely vintage and yet innovative.
Where can our listeners follow and support your music?
https://www.youtube.com/@orti-sumus
Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?
Perform our music on stage and continue our creative process
What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?
We hope this has piqued their curiosity. Our goal is to get people to come see our live shows; to be honest, we don’t care about social media followers
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