Name: Marcelline Gamma aka La Colère
Nationality: Swiss
Occupation: Singer, songwriter, producer
Current release: La Colère's latest single, “La Roche Pleure,” is out now.
Recommendations: Book: Charles Pépin - les Vertus de l’échec; Painting & architecture: La coupole de La Bourse du Commerce - Tadao Ando - Paris

If you enjoyed this La Colère interview and would like to keep up to date with her music, visit her official homepage.



When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

I can't help it, there's something bigger than me that's pushing me to do it.

When I compose everything is very clear and fluid, as if there were a story unfolding before my eyes, emotions taking shape with colours and smells.

I listen with my eyes closed.

What were your very first steps in music like and how would you rate the gains made through experience - can one train/learn being an artist?

I started studying the clarinet at the age of 5, and for 8 years I was able to study jazz, classical and klezmer. When I was 13 I had a revelation about electronic music, listening to Röyksopp.



For a long time it remained a guilty pleasure, as my friends used to tell me that electro wasn't music you could press buttons to. Being a passionate fan and a bit of a geek, I immersed myself in it at home with no expectations, because it was simply a great pleasure for me and an release. Until I released my EP and won an award in Switzerland.

I think we all have a different path, being totally independent I think we can all learn to become artists and have the time to professionalise, learn and make mistakes to refine our visions. Surround yourself with the right people to achieve your goals.

According to scientific studies, we make our deepest and most incisive musical experiences between the ages of 13-16. What did music mean to you at that age and what’s changed since then?

For me, discovering electronic music was a huge trigger. An obviousness that I embraced over time. This music opened up a space where I finally felt free and myself. I also spent a lot of time discovering new artists before they were played on the radio.

Today, I've made a living out of it and I still love discovering different artistic worlds.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and what motivates you to create?

For me, music is a free space, a universal language. A space without borders. So it's a space where I feel free to fully express what's going through me. It's also a need, something bigger pushes me to do it.

To quote a question by the great Bruce Duffie: When you come up with a musical idea, have you created the idea or have you discovered the idea?

I discover it by creating it.

Paul Simon said “the way that I listen to my own records is not for the chords or the lyrics - my first impression is of the overall sound.” What's your own take on that and how would you define your personal sound?

I totally agree with that, it's a whole that resonates.

I propose an oneiric universe, sincere, whole, balanced with warmth, coldness and a touch of irony.

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds? In how far would you describe them as “musical”?

For me, nature is the greatest of creators.

I'm very inspired by the mountains where I come from and the seas and oceans fascinate me. Most of my songs are directly inspired by these natural places, which always transport me with their richness of sound and scenery.

From very deep/high/loud/quiet sounds to very long/short/simple/complex compositions - are there extremes in music you feel drawn to and what response do they elicit?

I like long, complex compositions, such as those by Dream Theater. Their progressive side has inspired me a lot for the structure of some of my songs.



I listened to a lot of metal when I was younger. I think it allows a different kind of introspection and opens up a different listening dynamic which is less danceable, more intellectual and raw, I like it a lot.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of one of your pieces, live performances or albums that's particularly dear to you, please?

I like to go in search of sounds, modulations, curves, which best illustrate the feeling which passes through me or bursts forth. A melody comes, a rhythm matched to its color or roundness or roughness. The words generally come at the end of my process to fit like an instrument to this whole.

Sometimes a title, a phrase that I've had in mind for a while, also fits this set. “La Roche Pleure” is a song that I composed in my home village. Surrounded by very raw and rocky nature, it is a place that really recharges my batteries. I also wanted to integrate the sometimes extreme sliding sensations that the mountains can offer in winter.

I wanted to illustrate these different elements that are very close to my heart.

Do you conduct “experiments” or make use of scientific insights when you're making music?

Not yet but I would like to try to make a title with the same frequencies as the earth or a planet in our solar system.

How does the way you make music reflect the way you live your life? Can we learn lessons about life by understanding music on a deeper level?

Every song I make is directly inspired by what I'm experiencing or going through. Sometimes the song itself is a journey searching for answers.

I think it's an open channel, which the public can appropriate or recognize.

Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

I am rather introverted and anxious by nature. Interpretation and performance allow me to tame this and explore a more extroverted side. This also allows me to transgress.

So I'm a little out of my normal even though I really like coffee.

Every time I listen to "Albedo 0.39" by Vangelis, I choke up. But the lyrics are made up of nothing but numbers and values. Do you, too, have a song or piece of music that affects you in a way that you can't explain?

I understand this feeling and find it in “Hollow Heart” by Pye Corner Audio in his way.

This song for me is timeless, it captures something that transcends time.

[Read our Pye Corner Audio Interview]

If you could make a wish for the future – what are developments in music you would like to see and hear?

My dream is that electro music becomes more democratized. That it is no longer perceived as non-music or disadvantaged compared to certain genres.

For me, electro opens up an infinite creative space.