Header photo by Athena Photography, article photo by Katja Ruge
With the announcement of this year’s Substance Festival at the Great American Music Hall, we here at SF Sonic wanted to highlight some of the bands and artists playing over the three nights, whether they’ve been around for years or are early in their musical journey. Xavier Paradis has been crafting some of the most interesting synth pop in recent years under the name Automelodi for over fifteen years. After a five year break, Automelodi is back with not just a new song released last year, “Cavallo,” but a new EP coming out in November titled after the new song. I talked to him about the future and past of his project and where he still finds inspiration.
Tyler King: Last year you released your first new material in a long time, the single “Cavallo.” What was the production of that song like? How did it feel releasing new material for the first time in a while?
Xavier Paradis: The song was initially developed for live shows, then in early 2024 I was finally able to spend some time finishing it in the studio. I had to relocate and rebuild the studio the year prior to that so it was great to have a chance to try out that somewhat upgraded setup for one of my songs. In previous years I had to deal with quite a few situations where (especially vinyl) releases got delayed because of label, factory or shipping problems. For “Cavallo” I just went for a very simple, direct digital release so it was quite a refreshing experience to make a single available merely a week after mastering, just ahead of a tour in Europe.
TK: Is “Cavallo” a hint of more new music to come?
XP: Yes, I just finished mixing an EP based around “Cavallo” that should hopefully come out before the end of the year on Young & Cold Records.
TK: What have you been doing creatively since the release of your last album in 2019?
XP: Well, the start of the pandemic in 2020 forced me to cancel multiple tour dates and then within the following 18 months I lost both my parents to cancer, which brought significant grief to my relatives and I. Consequently, around that time I needed to take a break from performing and songwriting. I temporarily shifted the focus towards improving the studio space and doing more production and remixing work for artists such as Laura Krieg, Silent EM, Bootblacks, Patriarchy, etc. Things eventually got pretty busy on that front, especially with the Bootblacks LP for which I was also involved in writing some musical arrangements. Around 2023 I started touring again and gradually managed to spend more time working on my own material.
TK: One of my favorite songs of yours is “Visions en from.” The atmosphere of it feels so different from the rest of your material. Would you be able to talk about that song?
XP: The actual title for that one is “Visions en forme” but the title got somehow garbled on Apple Music and a few other platforms. That song evolved around lines of poetry I wrote around 2009, probably during a trip to NYC, if my memory serves me right. There is a mix of fascination and melancholy observing gigantic cities, especially when you consider how much of that skyscraper space is often just empty. Among other images I started fantasizing about empty elevators breaking free and flying out of their shafts. A few years later I created this eerie atmospheric loop using a Yamaha sampler from the 90s and realized it was the perfect musical canvas for that poem.
The final touch was getting this really talented saxophonist to record additional melodic lines. I had sketched out a few ideas thinking they might sound good on a baritone sax and that guy absolutely nailed those parts in just a few quick takes. It ended up sounding even better than I had hoped for – certainly one of my favorite moments on that record.
TK: On one of your earliest songs, “Airline,” there are parts sung in English. I’m wondering if you have made a conscious effort to sing in French, and if you have noticed a barrier between you and your fans that only speak English or another language?
XP: French is my native language so I couldn’t really call that a conscious effort. Even though over the years I did write a few rare songs in English, I always felt I had a deeper, more personal literary perspective when I write in French. It is true though, that now most of Automelodi’s audience is based in countries where French is not commonly spoken. For better or for worse, culture and media consumption have become more “globalized” in the 21st century. One of the few positive outcomes of that may be that more people around the world now choose to listen to music in a wider variety of languages. Therefore if a language barrier remains, I believe it is also becoming more porous.
TK: Were your early musical inspirations the ones that still inspire you?
XP: Maybe I’ve moved on from a few of my early inspirations but there are quite a few classics like DAF or Trisomie 21 that still sound as exciting to me as when I was 15. Other sources of inspiration became more engaging for me in the last decade or so, such as for example 70s Italian minimalism or Algerian Raï, which may nowadays influence my music in a relatively tangent way.
TK: Later in the year you’re going to be playing Substance Festival in San Francisco and Los Angeles and playing other shows throughout the United States. Do you notice a difference between playing shows in the US compared to Canada?
XP: The reception has been pretty good in the US so far. This was of course a positive surprise during my very first tours considering I mostly sing in French. Nowadays I guess one of the main differences is in the numbers. I am currently planning to play in 16 different US cities. In Canada, the scene is much smaller so I rarely get a chance to play elsewhere than Montreal, Ottawa, or Toronto.
TK: What other bands playing Substance Fest are you excited to see?
XP: It’s always great to share the stage with friends such as Xeno & Oaklander, Martin Dupont, and Pixel Grip. I noticed a number of acts I’ve never seen live before so I’m looking forward to discovering those as well, even though my touring schedule won’t allow me to catch everyone, unfortunately.
TK: What can people expect from your set at Substance Fest?
XP: Some new and some older material. Plus the usual tension between control and chaos, either from a human or technological standpoint. It’s a bit unpredictable but I do find a certain energy within that tension.
Follow Automelodi on Instagram here
Pre-order the Cavallo EP here
Tickets for Substance Fest can be purchased here
