Photo: Diane Sagnier
As Melody’s Echo Chamber, French chanteuse Melody Prochet has been making sepia‑tinted psychedelic folk‑rock for almost 15 years. Her latest album Unclouded is, she says, inspired by Studio Ghibli co‑founder Hayao Miyazaki’s idea of “seeing with eyes unclouded”, and was mixed by revered analogue enthusiast Jens Jungkurth.
At the moment I can’t stop listening to
I have two in mind. There’s Water From Your Eyes, their song ‘Life Signs’, and there is Saya Gray, who’s an amazing female artist. Both are really interesting, in terms of sounds and production, like, super ‘fusion’. But they master the fusion: they travel through a song and they open lots of doors. There are a lot of common references, but somehow you don’t really hear it. The references are very digested, processed, so it’s really unique. I love them both for their amazing production skills and chameleon kind of style.
Melody’s Echo Chamber: I would love to work in the hip‑hop scene. The alternative rap scene. Artists like Tyler, The Creator.
The artist I’d most like to collaborate with
I would love to work in the hip‑hop scene. The alternative rap scene. Artists like Tyler, The Creator. That kind of insanely creative and futuristic artist. It’s really amazing, because he loves my work as well. But, I mean, he’s way too big. It will never happen. But it’s really crazy that we have these universal roots of groove and flow. Then just have amazing drum beats and these amazing ideas. I know I’m generalising, but the hip‑hop I listen to is very much alternative, very avant garde in comparison to the indie music world. They don’t have, like, these ‘pop’ constraints, somehow. The production is crazy. It’s very diverse, in multiple ways: culturally speaking, there are lots of different roots from around the world. I find it very freeing.
The first thing I look for in a studio
First, coffee! Recently we had this process where we actually went to the spaces of the musicians we wanted to record. We didn’t go into big professional studios. It’s like, you’re getting the sound of the person you want, who you know you want to work with. Nowadays, with the technology we have, you can do a lot of things yourself, kind of a ‘lo‑fi but hi‑fi’ style! And that was really a good move. We went to Malcolm Catto in Dalston, in his studio. It’s like entering this like crazy cabinet de curosités, with all his analogue gear and amazing machinery, and he really knows how everything works in his own studio. So it’s really cool to go there and get his sound. And, we did the same with Daniel Ögren for the guitar. We went to his studio, so everything was already set up. They get more comfortable going to that ‘treasure’ zone, you know, where you feel really cosy and confident to play at your best and give love — to tune in the key of love! So that was a really good move, I think. It was a refreshing process, for sure. And all of their studios had coffee!
The person I would consider my mentor
Ah! Well, I mean, the multiple places I get inspired for everything is like a mentorship. There’s a lot of philosophy in my life. I read a lot. Every producer I work with is a sort of mentor — and myself in exchange, as well, it’s like a shared mentorship, somehow. With Sven Wunder [producer of Unclouded] I wanted that consistency, his classic sound. He’s like an illusionist. He was very disciplined, somehow. And structured. I’m chaos! So it was just really good, complementary work.
My go‑to reference track or album
I always go back to Broadcast’s Tender Buttons. It has everything, in terms of production, that I love. It has the drum sound. It has the groove. It has that patchwork retro, futuristic, collaged kind of hip‑hop aesthetic that I love. It has both modern and retro in it. It has these ethereal, witch‑like vocals, a dreaminess. There’s this ‘dream logic’, where songs dissolve into each other, this fusion of a lot of styles. It’s very unique. I don’t think anything else sounds like them. It’s almost like that Kintsugi pottery, where all the pieces are broken and you reassemble them with gold. What’s strange is that they weren’t that popular when they were active. And now, a lot of people just love them so much. I mean, that’s what happens to great art sometimes.
Melody’s Echo Chamber: I really love any piece of gear that will distort reality and open doors to other worlds.
My secret weapon in the studio is
I guess my ‘old trick’ is not really original, but the echo on my voice has always been really important to me, because my voice is pretty vulnerable. So it’s really important to have this little dreaminess and ‘rebound’ there, for me. So for that I’d say the Roland Space Echo. And then, you know, I really love any piece of gear that will distort reality and open doors to other worlds. So, I mean, I have a Diamond Vibrato pedal that goes very slow, so on the guitar it sounds nice. And after that, any delay! All these sorts of effects that distort or bend reality, are great. It’s like My Bloody Valentine’s [guitar string] bends; I’ll try something like that, but it always seems to come on a different instrument: for example, those bends resurfaced in the strings this time, like a memory from underground, different territories!
The studio session I wish I’d witnessed
Oh, yeah, [My Bloody Valentine’s] Loveless! Although, I’m not sure. I’m not sure it would be good to be around that, because it sounded like it was a hard one to get. I really wish I could see how they made their guitar walls of sound, because that’s incredibly hard to to create without hurting people’s ears in headphones! Yeah. It’s really complex. It’s hard to get that, like, feeling; where it’s still soft, but there’s the right amount of grit. That’s really complex to achieve. There’s a lot of work behind it. There must be a lot of interesting tricks, a lot of exploring, for sure. And that bend! Really interesting. It is quite unique.
The producer I’d most like to work with
Ah, so many! Inflo. He produced Cleo Sol and Little Simz — and Sault, obviously. He really has my dream sound, in terms of drums and bass, and orchestra. It’s so visionary; incredibly warm blankets and clouds of sound. Yeah, that would be amazing. I just listened to one of his last releases and I feel like he’s into bands like Rotary Connection and the Electric Prunes, inspired by psych‑rock and vintage music, but he modernises it and makes it something very new with the hip‑hop and R&B style of vocals. It’s really interesting. I really love it.
The studio experience that taught me the most
Well, that would be my first record, for sure. That was, like, my ‘great escape’; finding who I was, sonically. I had made music since I was about 17. I started with my brother. We were always doing stuff in home studios, producing songs together, and then I did a first record, I went to Perth and did the Melody’s Echo Chamber record. And that was really the biggest epiphany. I found what I wanted to sound like, for sure.
It was a mix of things. Realising that drums and guitar were so complementary to my vocals, because before that, I worked a lot with synthesizers — and that was great, but not very dynamic. It was a bit boring. It was about finding the right dynamic and the right ‘grit’ to complement my vocals, because they’re very ethereal. That’s what happened with Malcolm Catto drumming on this record, as well. It’s like, the perfect tension. Making sure you don’t float away with the vocals, and just vanish! So it’s about anchoring, grounding it. And I found my vocal style as well, with the echo.
Also, having the home studio is a big find as well, because you can work when you want, when you feel inspired; and you can rework, and experiment a lot, explore. When you go to another studio and you have five days, I find it impossible to make great music. It’s very difficult. Or you have to practice with a real band, all the songs need to be written, and it’s a whole other process. I prefer the experimental thing. It’s chamber music! It’s, like, the inner space. The inner cave, like an invisible playground for me to let my ideas speak and be creative, let my ideas resonate and let echoes answer. It’s a very important, transmutation kind of space.
The advice I’d give myself of 10 years ago
Just, you know, follow where there’s a spark. Just follow the spark. The vibration. Have confidence. Trust your ear. Because my ear is the only quality that I’m sure of. I have no confidence whatsoever in so many aspects, but I have a sharp ear. And I know it brings me to solid places.