Name: Yann Tambour aka Stranded Horse
Nationality: French
Occupation: Songwriter, composer, producer, guitarist, vocalist
Current release: Stranded Horse teams up with kora player Boubacar Cissokho for the The Warmth You Deserve, out via Talitres.
Global Recommendation: My hometown Granville is worth checking out as a whole. But it is overflowing with tourists like a lot of places on the coast. So if you do come, make sure you don't tell anyone ;-).  

[Read our Boubacar Cissokho interview]
[Read our feature on the kora]

If you enjoyed this Stranded Horse interview and would like to know more, visit him on Instagram, Facebook, and bandcamp. 



Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

I write for various reasons and in many contexts, but I'd say that, more often than not, the idea for a song comes to me while walking or hiking along the coast. A few key words and sentences start to take shape, and I jot them down on whatever's at hand—most often my phone.

Melodies can spring to mind at any moment. I tend to sing a melody to make sure I don’t lose it and record it on my phone as well. Once I have either of those elements, I refine everything at home, and it all comes together quite quickly.

The older I get, the quicker and easier the process becomes. I guess somehow politics and personal relationships play some kind of role, but I like to keep my lyrics open and am not keen on questioning the reason why I write what I write. The less control I exert over it, the fresher and more natural I think.

The hardest part is getting the first impulse to arise, and there's no real recipe for that—you just have to wait and let it take you by surprise.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

I used to spend a lot of time refining my first drafts, but nowadays, it's becoming much more straightforward.

I tend to have a clear idea of where I'm going, and it doesn't take me long to get there, even when I start with just a very abstract notion of what the song should be like.

Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?

No such things, no.

Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating? What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play?

Apart from walking on my own, mostly along the coast, not many, no.

For The Warmth You Deserve, what did you start with? If there were conceptual considerations, what were they?

The idea was that Boubacar and I had been performing live as a duo for a good 12 years. Although the duo wasn’t the only lineup for Stranded Horse, it was the format we played in most often. Somehow, though, we never had an album that truly reflected this.

People often remarked on the unique complicity between us and how well our playing intertwined (a result, I believe, of performing live so much together). We wanted to capture that dynamic because none of the previous albums really highlighted this aspect of our collaboration.

We recorded the album live and to tape. I like the idea of tape recording because it sounds warm and has limitations in terms of the number of takes you can do. Many of the songs came together in just one or two takes, three at most.

As for the concept, it's never been simpler. I think we can all feel that we’re living through chaotic and violent times, and the idea was to provide a sense of warmth we all deserve.

Tell me a bit about the way the new material developed and gradually took its final form, please.

It all happened fairly quickly.

When Boubacar came to France in the autumn of 2024, we had about 20 minutes' worth of music that we'd been working on during the previous autumn's tour. Then, we spent a week at a family house where we could stay and came up with the other half of the record. After that, we went straight to the studio, mixed it a couple of weeks later, and sent it to the press not long after.

I think I've never done anything so fast.

What makes lyrics good in your opinion? What are your own ambitions and challenges in this regard?

Good lyrics offer images and words that reflect the reality of your emotions better than reality itself.

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

Ha ha, the sea and the light, definitely!

It's a very banal idea, but I like to think (and this is probably very pretentious) that I can create something unique from something very banal.

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?

Definitely the second option. For anything to be truly worthwhile, I believe the writer must be the first to let go ;-).

Besides, the world we live in is already ruined by control freaks ... Enough !

There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?

I am a Cartesian who kids himself.

There is probably a mystical aspect to what I do, but I do not want to analyse it nor dwell on it.  

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?

I used to let it lie for a very long time and refine it several times, but I've learnt to shorten the process and come up with something I'm happy with straight away.

It leaves more room for the rest in life.

How do you think the meaning, or effect of an individual piece is enhanced, clarified or possibly contrasted by the EPs, or albums it is part of? Does each piece, for example, need to be consistent with the larger whole?

I'm an album guy. That's the length it takes for me to tell a story.

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

On this album, the arrangements are just as important as the bare songs themselves, as it represents a dialogue between a songwriter and a soloist (except for the solo pieces).

The recording and mixing were done entirely analog: a first for us, especially for a whole album.

After finishing a piece or album and releasing something into the world, there can be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this – and how do you return to the state of creativity after experiencing it?

We started to tour for the album even before the album release, so I guess that filled the gap and we didn't really feel that void.

I would love to know a little about the feedback you've received from listeners or critics about what they thought some of your songs are about or the impact it had on them – have there been “misunderstandings” or did you perhaps even gain new “insights?”

Misunderstandings are hard because I like to keep my lyrics open enough for anyone to relate.

I may have gained insights from someone's feedback. That rings a bell, but unfortunately I cannot recall what it was as we speak.  

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though writing 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 don't feel like an artist, and I like to think that writing songs is no different from laying wooden floors, which is something I do a lot these days.