Author : David Bola
Photo Credit : Marin Driguez
Translation : Una Dimitrijevic
As we go through the doors of C12, on the 9th of October 2021 for the second club night of Nuits sonores Bruxelles, the peaceful state of the place surprises us. The “night-manager” of the venue is working on the last preparations, the staff’s quietly preparing and in the main room, the first artists of tonight’s programme are examining the sound system that will soon thunder.
It’s difficult to think that yesterday the club hosted the producer behind “Drone Logic” Daniel Avery, in a back to back performance with Haai, that local figure Rokia Bamba delivered an enthralling warm up set, or that the voice of Sheffield Mim Suleiman heated up C11 (the club’s second stage), with some of her classic house anthems.
It’s even harder to process that in a few hours, the venue will be packed once again, for captivating acts by JASSS, TSVI and the recent formation uniting Strapontin and David Shaw : “It’s Complicated“, who are due to get the ball rolling. Let us introduce this tandem.
Strapontin is a multi-disciplinary artist, active in contemporary dance scene of Brussels. We can also hear his DJ sets on Kiosk Radio, a local landmark. Naturally innovating, his video game/music video project, though up for “The End of Logic” EP released on Hard Fist’s catalogue, had made commotion in Belgian news outlets.
On the other hand, David Shaw has a rich artistic background, amplified by collaborative works like Blackstrobe (with Ivan Smagghe and Arnaud Rebotini) or DBFC (duo with Dombrance), before producing alone for David Shaw and the Beat.
We met with these two protagonists, minutes before their performance, to exchange on their common project. Interview.
Hi David, hi Strapontin, thanks for taking the time to chat with us. To begin with, I’d like to go back to the birth of your collaboration. How did you meet?
Strapontin – I’m from Lyon but I’ve been in Brussels for 8 years. I came here mainly for the electronic music and contemporary dance scenes. (I make music for dance performances.) We met through a mutual friend, Laurence Camacho. She knew David and suggested I should meet him.
(To David Shaw) You came to Brussels, and I had a very sincere, very honest artistic crush. Initially, we played stuff to each other, then I started asking for your opinion on the stuff I created. And then, gradually, without pressure, we went to the studio to try things out.
David – Before meeting in Brussels, we’d already exchanged two or three messages of support. When we started going to the studio, it all went really smoothly. I think that’s when we started to push the idea of maybe creating something together. We both needed to meet each other before collaborating.
Is your musical project a sort of translation of this encounter?
Strapontin – I don’t know if it’s a translation, I think it’s more the reverse, that the musical project itself brings out this energy. In the beginning we did dance floor pieces, before finally both daring to venture into less raw, more subtle productions. For example, I personally wanted to work on a post-punk ambience, a bit like the DAF (Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft).
David – As the sessions progressed, our aim became less about creating functional music. Club music is great but very functional by definition. We started out in that direction, but then we realised that we could both do other things, different things, and we simply set out to create a musical object. We’ll see if it’s “functional” or “club” or not.
Strapontin – I couldn’t have started this work if I had told myself, “we have to end up with a record, with songs to play in clubs, with remixes, with a sort of ‘career plan’”. I see it simply as: “What are we capable of doing together? What does the other person allow us to achieve?”. It’s just about listening to each other and having trust.
David – We also help each other discover things, our working method is different. It forces you to take a step back, lose your hang-ups.
You live in Brussels, a city that has adopted you both. It’s also the city where you first performed and tested out this project. What was the reaction to these initial experiments?
Strapontin – We played several sets together at Tri Postal, which is a squat at the Gare du Midi. It’s an extremely well-managed squat; in Brussels, there are plenty of places like that. The audience is really welcoming, in the sense that you can test things out and people will listen.
It was cool to have the studio sessions where we worked together, composing, and then the Tri Postal sessions where we dared to experiment live and see the reactions. The audience in Brussels, in the alternative scene (at least at that time), was happy to let us experiment with them.
There’s a collective energy that also makes you want to experiment further.
Does the Brussels scene have a particular quality that makes it a good place for artistic experimentation and creation?
David – There’s a massive musical culture in Brussels. I’m English, and here I’ve rediscovered this feeling of exuding music, exuding art in general, this kind of energy; a galvanising feeling.
Strapontin – Brussels has this quality due to its history. It’s not as simple as “the people are cool”. It has a lot to do with the country’s decades-long identity crisis, being spilt between Wallonia and Flanders. That’s what Belgian identity is all about. It’s loads of identities at once.
This diversity, you can feel it everywhere. And the audience here is diverse, speaks 15,000 languages; there are lots of people from many different places. I get the impression that not having a strong national unity is seen as something negative in political spheres, when it’s something extremely positive. You can have loads of identities since you’re not being forced to fit into a specific mould. And you sense that strongly in the Brussels audience.
So this project has been composed both through live experimentation sessions and time spent in the studio. How would you describe your studio sessions together?
David – Before starting to work, we meet up, talk a bit about ourselves, about what’s inspired us or what we’ve seen, what we want to share. We always have a great lunch (laughs). That’s super important.
When we walk into the studio, we don’t necessarily say to each other: “Let’s go in this direction”. But at some point, something might resonate and remind us of a certain film, or a painting, or a book. But not everything is calculated. It’s very important to remember that.
Strapontin was inspired by the painting “Untitled” by Wilhem Sasnal, for example, to create the piece “Sasnal Park”. Is that a source of inspiration that you don’t have with It’s Complicated?
Strapontin – Right, I wasn’t thinking about that (Sasnal Park, painting as inspiration, etc.) when we were working together, because our process isn’t one of translating into music. We throw something out there, and then very precise images come to mind and we discuss them. We might say things like, “I’m seeing a sort of sunny afternoon in London”. It’s pretty vague.
We haven’t come from nothing either, we have very different backgrounds. I studied Fine Arts, so my background is in the visual arts. I still do sculpture and I make music for shows. I have a physical relationship to art.
David – In the end, even without necessarily expressing it during our work, what Strapontin brings is akin to a form of print ; his process is not always that of a musician.
When I started making music professionally, I was following a rather pre-set pattern, maybe a bit primitive, releasing a record to nab something else (gig bookings, tour dates, etc.). When I work with Strapontin, I have different reflexes.
Strapontin – And vice versa. I represent the more performative, arty side, a lot less clear-cut when it comes to musical creation. While you (David) are a real songwriter, in the sense that you can bring an emotional dimension that really hits the mark. You need sensitivity and technique to know when it’s the right time to insert a chorus, or that at another point it’s best to introduce something ethereal, with a lighter layering…
In my approach, I lack that sensitivity. I approach sound as a material, like a sculpture in which I search out ambiences. But I don’t always consider the composition with as much subtlety as David does. It’s Complicated is a kind of alchemy between our two skills.
To pursue this idea, I’d like to talk about your approach to creation. Since you both have a background in musical and artistic creation in general, I’m wondering whether your approach evolves when you work together. How would you describe the approach of the duo It’s Complicated?
David – When I’m alone, it’s not always easy to escape the prism of the timeline, of time constraints. With Strapontin, I tend to forget a bit about this timeline, it’s like being on holiday (laughs). Both he and I will always make music, it’s part of who we are. But today, what excites me most is approaching musical creation in a different way.
Strapontin – I have the impression that our approach is both punk and sensitive, and that the two are highly connected, when that’s not generally the case. Sensitivity and punk don’t necessarily go hand in hand, at least that’s not the first image that springs to mind.
Going in without a commercial mindset – so not envisaging a career based on a collaboration but just riding on that sensitivity – is alternative in itself. In a highly commercialised world, it’s already practically militant. When in fact, it seems extremely logical.
David – It’s also all in the name. It’s Complicated. It’s a very good summary of what we’ve been discussing.
Bola – I don’t know if it was intentional, but when I first saw it, I imagined it as a reply to a question like, “what are you working on?” or “how would you define this project?”; a way of avoiding an answer like, “it’s a house/techno/club album”. When you think about it, this way of classifying music may already be a commercial approach to a project, with a rhetoric that by association sells. Do you like techno? Then I’ll offer you some techno – even though defining genres and musical trends also accompanies a desire for social and cultural identification and belonging.
David – To be transparent about it, I’m a victim of that sometimes. Unfortunately, I have to define what I do by reducing it to three styles, when it’s more nuanced than that. It’s electronic music.
Strapontin – Besides, that’s not our job. I’m not saying that to unburden myself; there are art and music critics who are there to recognise the different nuances, styles, trends, etc. As artists, we’re asked to define ourselves, when precisely, as artists, we don’t know how to define ourselves. But in a positive sense – if we can’t define our art, it’s because our reasoning isn’t commercial.
For more stories from We are Europe, sign up to our newsletter down below. During Nuits sonores Brussels, we met with the producer and DJ MIMI, for an exchange on her debut as an artist and her relationship to sound. Read the interview here.
Lexicon
Timeline – Refers to the visual representation of a track in a production software like Ableton. The “timeline” is an abscissa measuring time.
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David Bola is the content editor of We are Europe Media. Formerly working at Radio Nova as a freelance journalist and hosts a monthly residency on Piñata Radio‘s soundwaves, with Ludotek, a show focused on video game music.