Akouphen
It’s near Bordeaux that AKOUPHËN was born, starting as a crew who intermixed different fields: drawing, theatrical direction and music.
In 2001, the form became a true musical group, composed of Turbo.J (fingerboard, machines, back vocals), PsykoNiko (Guitars, Fx) and Kloé (singer and secondarily Roller-skate french champion!).
Their stories and their universes with diverse origins join in giving birth to the styles melting; break beat electro rock which sees the guitars discharging some down pouring riffs on powerful basses. Kloé’s voice embellishing all with a frailty which contrasts with the whole and keeping at the same time the rock touch, offering a stability between power and resolutely approaching pop.
Their first album retains the composition of certain English bands such as Back to the Planet or Senser, even if these bands are not claimed as direct influences. Resolutely Electro Rock to Break beat, their music is like a steamroller, the condensation of punchy, massive rejoicing beats turn all types of stereo equipment into raging attacks, stuck by texts where everyday life serves as creative cement.
"we don’t try to pass on a precise message. Personally, the most often it’s cathartic: need to act out for diverse reasons. My texts are the most often autobiographical, or largely inspired from real facts then romanticized for giving them a more general dimension...
I formulate pre-eminently ideas which mature in my head, it’s the only effective solution that I found for brighten the whole. The most important is to confide in (whether our texts are inspired from real facts or pure fiction) in all honesty and unfettered (yes, it’s an ieal of interpretation which is not always easy to reach). My literary influences are for the major part based in the fact that I do literary studies (English LLCE). Between the books that I study from top to bottom and the linguistic theories, I observe in the literature’s practice and the linguistics’ theory how to juggle with words, it’s really helpful ! I appreciate especially the 20’s Modern period with writers such as Virginia Woolf and Francis Scott Fitzgerald, whose the themes of time and subjective vision of the world which surround us – though great classics and not really original – haven’t finished to intrigue us and still run as much writting ink" tells Kloé.
AKOUPHËN form part of this new generation which takes in the past for building tomorrow’s musics with today’s technologies, "We form part of the modern alternative scene, the one which has just appeared and which is making more and more noise. It’s very exciting to be on the road in that train, because many experiences and encounters turn-up to us and we are very keen to live them"
This definition summarizes perfectly the AKOUPHËN’s frame of mind and approach, abrasive mixing of machines with melting and straightforward guitars which don’t forget to make breaks. The tempo slows down the cadence, seeing melodies getting caressed and soothed before taking back ways which make bodies and heads move until asthenia.
