UTO are a duo from Paris who sound like they might be from outer space. Chic and alien, rhythm-centric yet diaphanous and ghostly, they are a group that thrive on contrasts and embrace paradoxes. Described variously as witchpop, dreampop and trip hop, they mine a rich seam of 90’s British music from the peripheries, with added je ne sais quoi.
Having left Ivry behind two years ago for Augerville-la-Rivière, a tiny agricultural village about 30 km south west of Fontainebleau, they found more space in their lives and space in the music too. The album channels the listlessness of the last few years, full of liminal audioscapes where sounds intermingle and sometimes repel each other, denoting convoluted thought processes which never quite resolve. Since the release of their debut album in September 2022, the duo has been touring Europe’s concert halls and festivals.
On Wednesday June 7, they will play their first concert in Berlin, along Sabrina Bellaouel at Kantine am Berghain.
FACTS
1. Neysa’s father on our album cover is actually destroying a bathtub
2. Emile has been building his studio this year from scratch and …
3. … A poem was buried in the concrete foundation of the studio
QUESTIONS
1. What is the biggest inspiration for your music?
The mess in our heads and the music around us.
2. How and when did you get into making music?
One evening in our living room, making our first track together in an hour, after that, it took months, years.
3. What are 5 of your favourite albums of all time?
Aphex Twin Come to Daddy
The White Stripes Elephant
Veedon Fleece – Van Morrison
Vespertine – Bjork
Tender buttons – Broadcast
4. What do you associate with Berlin?
An Halloween night lost in the grunewald forest
5. What’s your favourite place in your town?
We actually live in a 200 people village with not much to do, but we walk everyday in the woods and go meet the river
6. If there was no music in the world, what would you do instead?
We would have a lifetime to figure that out
7. What was the last record/music you bought?
Better lucky than beautiful by The Bingo club
8. Who would you most like to collaborate with?
Eartheater
9. What was your best gig (as performer or spectator)?
Our best gig as performer would be our release party in Paris, there was a female choral singing behind us, appearing from the darkness.
10. How important is technology to your creative process?
We are both very different, we don’t have the same relation regarding technology. Neysa makes music without it and Emile never did music without it.
11. Do you have siblings and how do they feel about your career/art?
They feel good
