Band Name: Biomania
Members: Thierry Lemaitre (saxophone), Công Minh Pham (keyboards), Arthur Links (guitar), Nicolas Bauer (bass), Benjamin Pellet (drums)
Nationality: French
Release: Biomania's debut album System D is out via Most Least. 
Review by: Tobias Fischer interviewing himself

This interview review is part of 15 Questions's project of finding new, more engaging formats for the review format.

For a deeper dive, read our Biomania interview. 



The press release places Biomania on a spectrum with some of the leading new UK- and US jazz bands, such as Butcher Brown, Soweto Kinch, Makaya McCraven, and Yussef Dayes. What do you make of that?

I'm currently reading Unapologetic Expression, Andre Marmot's in-depth account of the UK scene. And it's interesting to note that, right from the very start, many bands which we now consider as originators and leaders of that movement, were initially triggered to create their own sound by a deep-seated aversion to the state of jazz about a decade ago.

They considered this music as stale, generic, backwards-oriented, exclusionary and elitist. It seemed to have lost its fire and on the odd occasion when it still had a recognisable topic or cause, these did not relate to their reality.

The new wave of UK jazz has grown so fast, partly, because it wanted nothing to do with jazz. To these bands, that term was not about a style of music, it was about an approach towards creating. When I spoke to Butcher Brown about this, they told me that, to them, jazz meant freedom, self-expression, and accepting imperfections. You can build some very different music from this description.

In contrast, and ironically perhaps, the French scene, which I consider somewhat under-exposed internationally at the moment, still hews closer to the original sound and compositional approaches of the first jazz pioneers. If you look at it that way, they feel closer to their US counterparts.

A few pieces on the last two Maka McCraven releases did not feel worlds away from System D.



So – Biomania are more “traditional?”

All of the ingredients that you'd expect from the aforementioned UK and US stalwarts are present here.

You're getting abstract loops; a rhythm section clearly inspired by electronic grooves and reminiscent of a slowed-down version of drum n bass. You also get the soft Rhodes and electric piano touches so typical for many of their contemporary colleagues. I would argue that in terms of beat work, this is actually more openly hip-hop-influenced than even some of the US bands. So, if you really have to put a label on it, their sound is extremely current.

But at the same time, they also share more sonic signatures with what can be considered standard signifiers of jazz. Already the way that System D is produced – less compression, more space for the music to live and breathe, and for the original natural resonances of the instruments to unfold – it simply gives you more of a natural band feeling.

Does that make the band more conservative? I would argue the other way around: It makes Biomania more unique. I think that many lesser players can add a few jazzy licks to their music, work around a moody 70s sample or add a bit of analog warmth to their sound and call that modern jazz.

But expressing your love for the sounds of today while still clearly paying tribute to those who came before you – that's quite an achievement.

How does the band achieve this?

One of the key pillars are the melodies that band leader Thierry Lemaitre comes up with. They have this quality of being cool and charming, contagious and catchy without feeling trivial. Even though you're not getting a lot of standard improvisation-on-top-of-a-theme here, they nonetheless set the tone and the direction for most of the tracks.

Speaking of improvisation - Biomania's approach is entirely non-formulaic. Improvisation can take place at the smallest possible level and whenever the moment seems to demand it. You don't always have to wait for the solo section to arrive.

Few of these solos are flashy, but most are transformational. Opener “Deux minutes meme pas” sees guitarist Arthur Links going from subtle and seductive in the first bars to increasing levels of intensity, Benjamin Pellet picks up the hint by riding his cymbals with a burning urgency, until they return to the sensual Leitmotif again.

You said something about Biomania which I found somewhat surprising – that they don't seem to focus first and foremost on being “tight.” That doesn't feel like a particularly kind thing to say when it comes to a jazz combo.

Look at it this way: The “tighter” a band plays, the more the performance of each instrumentalist blends into the group sound. To a degree, most formations will want this because this kind of band consciousness naturally established itself simply through playing with others for a long time. But there is always a trade-off. Just like mixing in mono, you get more power, but less detail.

The most interesting aspect about System D is that you can hear the band's individual voices shine through in every single moment. An elegant bass run here, a few piano notes there, sometimes a variation in the main theme and plenty of surprising twists and turns in the arrangements.

Which is what band leader Thierry Lemaitre suggested in your interview with him, when he said that he provided “only basic ideas, trusting the musicians to transform them into something alive and evolving.”

Exactly. And that is something which is probably easier to negotiate in a duo or a trio. Whereas here, there are five musicians with their own perspective and backgrounds. Still, what you're getting isn't overly complex but rather something I would refer to as “caleidoscopic.“

In many passages, the musicians are not “interlocking” so much – a terms which would denote a mechanical view, like cogwheels in a machinery – as much as dancing around each other. They still complement each other, but it feels far more joyful.

After listening to a lot of bands aiming for trance through repetition and strictness, the playfulness feels like a breath of fresh air.

So, if not tightness, what holds the band together?

Depth.The band make full use of the additional dynamics at their disposal by layering their contributions and creating a sensation of threedimensional plasticity.

One of the tracks is actually called “Deepness” and the band take that idea very literal here: There is a very beautiful, understated piano solo by Công Minh Pham but it is embedded deep into the mix, so you actually have to focus on something further away from you.



And I could spend the entire duration of the record just listening to Nicolas Bauer's bass. In one instant, he's content to take the backseat and go for a one-note-pulse, in others, he expands into baroque ornamentation which propels the music forward with reckless abandon.

The concept of deepness and the rejection of shallow flashiness allow this band to expand without overwhelming the music. Underneath all these ideas, every track is still really straight-forward – sometimes funky, sometimes reflective, sexy in one instant and carefree and cool in another.

Maybe that's because they started by Lemaitre pre-producing the pieces in his home studio.

Most likely. And that also points to the similarities and differences between Biomania and, the jazzy hip hop that may have been an inspiration:

The latter takes an original jazz performance and then recontextualises it in an electronic medium. System D starts with the electronic medium and then recontextualises it in a live setting.

I guess something like that is always an option when you call your band Biomania – something that keeps growing organically.

It's a fascinating process and I would love to see this extended – just imagine what this would sound like it you then remixed it in Ableton again.