Name: Jean Claude Vannier
Nationality: French
Occupation: Composer, arranger
Current release: Jean Claude Vannier's new album Jean Claude Vannier et son orchestre de mandolines is out via Ipecac.

If you enjoyed this Jean Claude Vannier interview and would like to know more about his music, visit him on Instagram. 



Where does the impulse to create something come from for you?

It's like asking why there is something rather than nothing.

I don't feel like I'm creating anything.

For you to get started, does there need to be concrete ideas?

I follow my instincts in the continuity of other music. Everything is an influence, all music.

I just translate my dreams as best I can. Strangely enough, a melody can emerge from a watercolour.

Do you have certain rituals to get you in the right mindset for creating?

I write music like they did in the 17th century, with paper, pencil and eraser - especially the eraser!

For your latest release, what did you start with?

My latest album was born of a meeting with the mandolinist Vincent Beer Demander, for whom I began by writing simple melodies.

The project grew into a mandolin orchestra.

What are areas/themes/topics that you keep returning to in your lyrics?

The orchestra's sole ambition is to stir the emotions.

Indeed, the sound of shivering mandolins has a romantic quality that evokes nocturnal and turbulent love affairs.

Many writers have claimed that as soon as they enter into the process, certain aspects of the narrative are out of their hands. Do you like to keep strict control or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?

When it comes to writing music, nothing happens by chance.

Music has its own logic and mine is perhaps a little peculiar, due to my self-taught status.

Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on? How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until you're satisfied with a piece?

A final rereading of the score is usually necessary. Most of the time it's a question of lightening and removing unnecessary effects.

Once it's been recorded, I abandon my score and there's no point in improving it. I prefer to write something else.

In terms of what they contribute to a song, what is the balance between the composition and the arrangement (including production, mixing and mastering)?

When I compose a song, there's no notion of arrangement. Everything comes at once.

I write the text, the melody, the orchestration, and then I direct the musicians.