French metal band Septaria delves into human complexity with their debut album Astar, blending existential themes with a unique post-metal, progressive sound.
1. Your
debut album Astar dives deep into the human psyche and explores existential
themes. Can you tell us what inspired the concept behind the album and how it
connects to the title Astar?
Hugo Thevenot: The album's inspirations are simply drawn from our life
experiences. It evokes our doubts, our dreams, our fears and our vision of life
at a given moment on subjects close to our hearts.
The album title "A*"(astar), comes from the black hole Sagittarius
A*, which is also the title of a two-part track on our album.
We chose Astar because it's a song of hope. Like many other tracks on the
album, it makes the link between human complexity and the complexity of space.
2. You’ve been described as a fusion between the heaviness of Gojira and the
dreamy atmospheres of Slowdive. How did you come to merge these two distinct
influences into your sound?
Hugo Leydet: Probably because, in one way or another, these two musical
elements appeal to very inner, very deep feelings. So deep, in fact, that
that's what came out spontaneously.
In another sense, there's a kind of sonic balance that's created when one is
accompanied by the other.
Music with a wide range of intensity has always seemed to us to be more
powerful to live and to listen to, both live and on an album.
It's a bit like playing with different shades of color to compose a painting
and be able to express a wider range of feelings.
Pink Floyd albums are a big part of that for me.
3. Your latest video for "Psyché" is emotionally intense and
sonically powerful. What was the creative process behind the song and its
accompanying visuals?
Hugo Thevenot: "Psyché" is about the fear of losing control of
oneself. We put ourselves in the shoes of someone struggling to discern the
real from the imaginary. The song was originally inspired by the myth of the
Minotaur. The labyrinth is an allegory of the character's psychic state, of
which he is a prisoner, and the Minotaur, a part of himself against which he
struggles. Everything is metaphorized by the psyche mirror, which represents
his haunting reflection. The whole clip is thus constructed as a mirror, where
the character develops a psychosis of himself, but when he understands who he
is, he is destined for a tragic end.
4. The duality of human experience—pain and joy, suffering and happiness—is a central theme in your music. How do you channel these emotions into your songwriting and performances?
Hugo Leydet: I just don't think we tried to channel it too much. It was more out of need than desire. As the creative process was very short, we didn't have the luxury of asking ourselves which topics would be best to talk about and which wouldn't.
It just came up.
These are issues that are ultimately part of who we are all our lives. We are not our emotions, but we have to live with them.
Having dealt with these issues, I realize that perhaps we needed to make some of life's greatest difficulties conscious so that we could step back from them and find greater peace.
Talking about it made us grow, that's for sure.
5. Being from the south of France, how has your local music scene influenced your sound, and how has the metal scene in France responded to your unique blend of post-metal and progressive metal?
Hugo Leydet: As far as we're concerned, the music scene in the southeast of France is better known for rap than metal. Our environment hasn't influenced us in any way.
So far, we've had nothing but good feedback from venues, bands and people we've met at gigs and on the internet about what we're offering.
So I guess we're pretty well received!
6. You’ve got some intricate, layered compositions on this album. Can you walk us through your songwriting process? Is it more collaborative, or does each member bring their own distinct ideas to the table?
Hugo Thevenot : Each track is quite unique in its compositional process. Some are written almost entirely by one person, while others are written together. We can quickly come to an agreement, or spend several months making concessions to arrive at a result that satisfies us all.
We started composing the album as soon as the band was formed, and our way of composing has evolved with the band.
Today, we know each other well, and we've developed a real cohesion in the way we work together.
7. Astar deals with big questions about existence and the universe. Do you find that writing music with such deep themes is a way for you to better understand these concepts on a personal level?
Hugo Thevenot: Absolutely! A lot of songs serve as therapy, the fact that you have to dig deep into your thoughts makes you realize certain things during the writing process. Also, singing the lyrics once the piece is finished has a very liberating effect, and even more so in this style of music.
Then the songs become so ingrained in us that they become our mantra.
8. The atmospheric elements in your music create a balance between the heavy and the melodic. How important is this balance in shaping the identity of Septaria?
Hugo Thevenot: It's essential. We really want to bring a certain dynamic to our songs. Each subject addressed in the lyrics has a certain ambivalence, and the musical composition and writing are a unity. So, it's only natural that when a subject is nuanced, the music should be too.
9. With Astar set for release on November 15th via Klonosphere/Season of Mist, what do you hope listeners take away from this album, both musically and thematically?
Hugo Leydet: With this album, we've tried to combine the musical and thematic aspects.
We'd like the listener, like us, to be able to plunge into an internal journey through everything that constitutes him. His fears, his rage, his flaws, the contrast of existence. Like a kind of first step towards a deeper, calmer self-awareness.
It's an invitation to look beyond oneself, whether it's of one's own psyche or a starry sky, to observe the vastness of its beauty.
10. Finally, what’s next for Septaria after the release of Astar? Are there any plans for touring or future projects that fans should be excited about?
Hugo Leydet: Absolutely, we're hard at work preparing for tours in France. We're going to try to play in most of the major cities in our country to defend our album and the show we're going to put on. We're hoping to meet and share with a lot of great people on the road.
We'll also be playing a few summer festivals, so we won't be bored!
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