Meet DISLIMN, creators of 'Esmee' EP. Inspired by personal journeys, DISLIMN blends stoner rock with Nordic melodies. Their lead single 'Anxiety' unveils Esmee's struggles. Collaborations and live performances immerse audiences in their hypnotic sound. Stay tuned for their upcoming projects and live shows!
1. Congratulations
on the upcoming release of your debut EP, "Esmee"! Could you tell us
a bit about the inspiration behind the band name, DISLIMN, and how you all came
together to form the band?
At the
beginning Basile (Drums) and Florent (Guitar) wanted to create a two
piece-stoner rock band, and we quickly decided to add an extra member to the
troup, we needed a singer. Alix (singer) was a close friend of Basile's, so she
joined the project not long after its creation in summer 2022, bringing a lot
of ideas to the table. These ideas merged to create the unique sound of
DISLIMN. About our name we wanted to find a word that represents the fact
of hiding behind a mask, to create yourself a new personality, a curtain behind
which we conceal our uneasiness, a pain that’s eating us. We’ve tried several
names and ended up discussing it with an American choreographer, a friend of
ours, who heard our music and our story, and almost spontaneously came up with
the word “DISLIMN”. The 3 of us went through really hard times, and we’ve all
once tried to hide our feelings behind a mask, to dissipate ourselves in a
curtain of mist, from which we all ended up coming out as better persons. This
is the interesting part about “DISLIMN”, it means to disappear, to darken, to
hide in a mist, but its antonyms are “to illuminate”, “enlighten”. At the end
of the day, DISLIMN is a name we could have given to the journey we’ve all been
through.
2. Your
music is described as a unique blend of progressive, heavy rock, and doom with
Scandinavian melodies. How did you come to develop this distinctive sound, and
which artists or bands have influenced your musical style?
We all come
from very different backgrounds, but the original idea was to create a stoner
band. We drew our inspirations from bands like Elder, Mars Red Sky, Somali
Yacht Club, but we ended up mixing everyone's inspirations! Alix listens to a
lot of Nordic Folk, like Kalandra, Eivør or Wardruna, and Basile likes
progressive music such as The Ocean. Somehow we all started to like each
other's taste, and we created the sound of DISLIMN by mixing these ideas.
3.
"Esmee" deals with chronic anxiety through the character of Esmee.
What motivated you to explore this theme, and how did you approach translating
such complex emotions into music?
We must
give credits to Alix for this Idea. She is battling anxiety attacks
and generalized anxiety every day. She wanted, like therapy, to free herself
from this weight by expressing her feelings and putting words to what she is
feeling. For her, anxiety is like a person who lives inside her and dictates
her thoughts. In this song, we've personified anxiety, giving it a voice. It
hides its true face, only to reveal itself fully at the end of the track,
underlining the fact that Esmee (our main character) has no reason to be where
she is. This is how we translate this kind of complexe emotions into music: We
put our everyday struggles, experiences and traumas into words and notes.
4. The
EP is structured like a narrative, with each track representing a chapter in
Esmee's story. Can you walk us through the creative process behind crafting
this concept and selecting the tracks?
Our
original idea was to create a concept album that tells a story. When we decided
to talk about Anxiety, we've chosen to write this album like a book that tells
the story of Esmee, a character that we’ve created, who’s dealing with chronic
anxiety. We wanted to compose the instrumental parts so that it follows the
psychological state of Esmee, and each song represents a step in her life. The
Ep starts with “Anxiety”, in which we personified the Anxiety and made it talk,
displaying it taking hold of Esmee. Our character starts giving up in the next
song, ‘Esmee’s Story’, that we wrote like an open letter in which Esmee
expresses her dark thoughts. Our instrumental song “Gullfoss” represents the
fight inside of Esmee’s mind. She’s starting to realize that there might be a
way out. “In my Mind” is the beginning of the fight, Esmee sees a way out and
starts walking it, which she does and decides to do her best not to fall again
in the trap of Anxiety, in the last song called “Release me”, our strongest
Hymn.
5. Your
sound is characterized by hypnotic riffs, repetitive grooves, and percussive,
melodious vocals. How do you balance these elements to create a cohesive
musical experience, both in the studio and in live performances?
We build
our sound by stacking several layers of sound textures and sound effects,
creating a "wall of sound". In order to create this effect, in the
studio, we try to create relatively simple parts, not too rich in harmonies in
order to build something very interesting. As an exemple, the guitar and bass
parts are pretty similar, like most of the rhythmic guitars are similar to the
lead. Only a few details make those parts different from one another. At the
end of the day, it permits us to create a mass of sound, without overloading
our soundscape.
When it
comes to live performance, we can't keep every single layer, because it would
sound too messy and imprecise. We choose specific layers to keep, in order to
maintain the efficiency of our sound. We basically keep in mind that less is
more, we compromise. Nevertheless, when it comes to sound shaping, we make it
more fat and aggressive, in order to keep this idea of "wall of
sound". To sum up, we have less layers, but we make them fatter.
About the
voice, whether it's in the studio, or on stage, we use a lot of reverb and
delay, in order to give it enough depth and thickness, but also enough power to
pierce through the sound mass created by the instrumental parts.
6.
You've collaborated with guest musicians like Paul Void and Valentin Gévraise
on "Esmee." How did these collaborations enhance the EP, and what was
it like working with other artists to bring your vision to life?
First of
all, we love collaborations ! We believe that, when it comes to music, or
developing a project, collaborations are opportunities to get ideas that we
wouldn't have thought about in the first place. Everyone has their own
creativity, that's why we give a lot of freedom to the person we work with,
whether it is our the person that takes pictures, Léa Barthelemy in our case,
the producer of our clip François Richer, the designer of our EP's cover
Stéphane Levallois, and of course the musicians we called on our album. We know
Paul Void to be a "Synth Nerd", and his approach to music is very
experimental, so he had a lot of ideas ! He also has a vast amount of knowledge
about nordic percussion. We just pressed play, and let him record anything that
came to his mind. We kept a lot of his ideas as you can hear. The same process
was applied to Valentin Gévraise, we asked him to record an improvised solo on
our instrumental "Gullfoss". So, as we did for Paul, we pressed play,
and we let him express himself. After a few takes, we chose the best one and
kept it in the final version of the song.
7. Your
debut single, "Anxiety," was released in April 2024. Can you tell us
about the message behind this track and why you chose it as the lead single for
the EP?
In this
track we wanted to give anxiety a voice. It's described as a person that takes
hold of Esmee's feeling and thoughts. At the beginning, it introduces itself as
a friend upon which Esmee can rely on, until it shows its true nature as the
song goes by. It captures Esmee in a kind of psychological prison, and takes
her away from her world, making her feel rejected and unwanted.
We've
chosen this song as our single because it opens our EP, but it's also a great
introduction to everything that the EP will be talking about: the story of a
woman struggling with this specific form of Anxiety. It's also a good
introduction to our style of music and our universe.
8. The
artwork for "Esmee" is striking and evocative. How does it reflect
the themes and mood of the EP, and what was the creative process behind its
design?
We decided
to collaborate with Stéphane Levallois for our cover. He is an amazing artist
with so much talent, granted with a mind that works so fast. Basile knew him
and his way of working, so we wanted him to fully express his art. We sent him
our music, our influences, our story and our Clip and told him "Draw what
comes to your mind". We couldn't be happier with the result. Everything
was perfect, from the choice of Black & White, the hands that represent
Anxiety, covering Esmee's face. It is sober, but also rich in signification,
powerful and simple.
9. In
addition to your studio work, you've also performed live at various venues and
events. How does your approach to performing live differ from your approach to
recording, and what do you hope audiences take away from your live shows?
We went
through a lot of reflections to create our identity on stage, but our main
objective is to tell a story, to invite the audience to share this moment
with us. For our first EP "Esmee" we got inspired by our own stories,
and so will we for our future projects. This way we're able to communicate a
lot of strong emotions when performing live, and the audience can identify
themself to our stories.
We are
truly inspired by performances of Scandinavian bands like Heilung or Wardruna,
where the show becomes more of a ritual, an out-of-space moment rich in
emotions and self-meditation. Of course we don't go this far, and some of our
songs have a strong and open chorus where the audience can sing along Alix's
vocals. I'm thinking about our songs "In My Mind", "Esmee's
story" or "Release Me" that have parts that give us an
opportunity to become one with the audience, with simple and strong lyrics,
heavy riffs and catchy rhythms.
Finally we
want the audience to remember what they saw: 3 people on stage delivering the
sound of an army of guitar and bass amps. That's a common reaction that we are
receiving, people witnessing our performances and asking us afterwards:
"How can you have such a massive sound, with only 3 members on
stage?". That's the kind of reaction that we want to provoke.
10. Looking ahead, what are your goals and aspirations for DISLIMN? Are there any upcoming projects or collaborations that you're particularly excited about?
We’ve been
on so many projects prior to DISLIMN, and for the first time we’ve created a
project that we are very proud of. We’ve gathered all of our common
experiences, we’ve learned from the mistakes of our past bands, and we move
forward in the hope to one day take the road and definitely start touring. We
are actually composing our next songs, and we can’t say anything else, apart
that we are truly excited to present our future projects. More
specifically, we are preparing our release party in Paris, at Le Klub the 9th
of June. We will be also playing in Meaux, France, the 15th of June, and we are
in the making of several other shows planned for the end of 2024!
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