Call it Raw. Carpenter Gross. And nothing else. The French electronic music producer no longer wants to be called by his real name or show his face. Even if his surname in the civil registry is not a mystery, the interested party simply wishes to highlight his music. Or rather his hybrid creature, born ten years ago, which continues to grow internationally: his second album, Leather Terrorreleased Friday 1is April, will be defended by a tour of forty dates in thirteen countries, including a dozen given this summer in the United States and Canada. In France, a Parisian Zénith is looming for October, four years after his time at the Olympia.
A one-man project, Carpenter Brut operates in the “synthwave” category, or more precisely “darkwave”, dark music that transposes hard rock into electro. A symbiosis between the power of thrash and heavy metal (but without predominant guitars), the tension of certain synthetic film soundtracks (in particular those of the master of horror John Carpenter, whose name he hijacks) and pop new wave of the 1980s. Tastes perfectly assumed, but which turn out to be more eclectic than expected: “I listen to a lot more metal than the restsays the artist, but I also love old school funk and hip-hop, and 80s pop like Tears for FearsSupertramp and Depeche Mode. » A formula so effective that even the metal public cannot resist dancing in concert.
From an aesthetic point of view, no group photo therefore, but visuals and videos playing as much on the codes of metal (leather, chains, sharp objects, etc.) as “slashers”, this cinematographic sub-genre featuring killers psychopaths. A second degree of course that Carpenter Brut cultivates, as a worthy child of VHS. “At the beginning, I used an inverted cross on the coverscomments the producer. It wasn’t related to satanism, besides my music has no lyrics, just a reaction to the fact that the band Justice put it right side up on their first record. Saint Peter had crucified himself on an inverted cross, because he did not consider himself worthy of Jesus. Well, I did the same thing, because I didn’t consider myself worthy of Justice. I wanted to cultivate this bad boy, “bad boy” side of the French touch. »
Mix of genres
It was in 2011 that the thirty-year-old, originally from Vienna, a sound technician, began to compose instrumental music on his computer. Not particularly geek, amateur musician with only one year of piano lessons during his childhood “and some drums”the sorcerer’s apprentice learns music software on his own. “Obviously, my first productions were horrible. That’s why it took me a year to release my first EP. The beast had to be given time to form. »
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