Photography: Lulah Da Curly
Almost exactly a year after his third album Broken Soul came our way on Lenzman’s label, Toulouse OG Redeyes returns to The North Quarter with a six-track EP. Entitled The Unfinished Theory, it’s a straight up drum & bass release which, he explains, is to give thanks to the fans who supported his album. It’s out November 1, the first track to be revealed is Fine Again
Featuring FD and ranging from dusty jazz elements to a Detroit techno feels, it’s the sound of Redeyes – real name Julien Salvi – with his focus fixed purely on the dancefloor. Even though, it seems, he doesn’t play much of his own material in his DJ sets. Time for some unfinished business…
The Unfinished Theory. There’s got to be concept or story behind this title.
Yes there is. First I thought it sounded cool as a name but it’s also a reference about the state of mind. It’s this never-ending feeling; you feel sad and you feel happy and back again. It’s this mood that’s an unfinished thing. Did you ever see the TV show True Detective? There’s a reference in there that life is a flat circle and it goes round and round, over and over the same thing. This is that. It’s the unfinished theory of life. You are born, you can be inspired, you work hard and you’re pleased with what you do for a moment and then you get disappointed by things again and life happens but then you write music again. It is the unfinished story of life.
We’ve spoken about how music is a diary of your emotions before. Your album was, wasn’t it?
Yes, but this emotion is told through just drum & bass. I was very happy with how the album was received and I wanted to come back to The North Quarter and just come with a drum & bass album. It is a way of saying thanks to the drum & bass fans who showed love to the album, even though it wasn’t just D&B. I loved that they did that, I wanted to give something back.
You can definitely hear that in Evergreen Dub. Tune mate!
FD properly killed that bassline. It’s the first thing we did together, hopefully we’ll do more.
Was that done together IRL or the good old fashioned online way?
The funny thing is, he actually came to Toulouse when I booked him for my Outlines party and he spent the weekend at my home. So we could have done a tune then but we didn’t actually make any music. We just talked a lot and had some very deep conversations about the music. Then a month later we started working on it over the internet. The classical way these days, as you say. But that weekend, just talking about ourselves and life and music was important. You get to know the person you’re writing with and that makes it more special.
The Rhythm is a banger too. Detroit and Soul:r vibes.
Yes it is a homage to Marcus of course. He was a big inspiration to me and I’ve always loved the sounds of Detroit techno, Underground Resistance, Derrick May, all that stuff. It started really loopy and took it as deep as I could. I spent a lot of time on it and I’m happy with the results.
I guess you’ve been road-testing these all summer?
Not as much as you might think. I don’t play a lot of my tunes in my sets. I play them all but different times – like one or two on the night. Actually I haven’t played The Rhythm yet, I don’t know why. Freddie plays it all the time and says nice things. A few people have. But I am afraid of the big breakdown in the middle. I should try to play it.
You should. So what else is coming up?
I’m thinking about making something new. I’ve been working on some things, but life gets very busy with gigs and being a father and everything else. I make time for this when I can. That is the unfinished theory of life, right?
Redeyes – Unfinished Theory is out November 1 on The North Quarter
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