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Name: Mathias Neyrand  aka Phileas

Nationality: French
Occupation: Singer, songwriter
Current Release: Phileas's Present is out via Armadillo.
Recommendations: “For Sama”, a documentary by Waad al-Kateab und Edward Watts about the civil war in Syria. Certainly, the most disturbing, violent and unsettling documentary I have ever seen, it is also a brave and important film that illustrates the absurdness and maddening sadness of warfare, ideology and fanatism.



Murray Head: Say it ain’t so Joe: I recently discovered this record which felt like discovering a lost Beatles or Pink Floyd album. His subsequent albums, although different in terms of musical style, bear the same hallmark of boundless creativity, daring playfulness and, to put it quite simply, plain talent. His voice and vocal mastery place him, in my opinion, among the greatest singers in rock history.

If you enjoyed this interview with Phileas and would like to know more about his work, visit his official website. He is also on Instagram, Facebook, and Soundcloud.



When did you start writing/producing/playing music and what or who were your early passions and influences? What was it about music and/or sound that drew you to it?

I started playing cello when I was 5. By the time I was 11 I used to lay the cello across my lap and knew I had reached the point where I should really move on to something else. The earliest memory of playing guitar is spending hours on end playing through Leonard Cohen's whole repertoire on an old acoustic guitar. The song “Field Commander Cohen” on the new album is about that memory and moment.

[Read our Theresa Wong interview about the cello]
[Read our Clarice Jensen interview about the cello]

The other major influence was listening to “The Beatles: Live at the BBC”. Not only was I introduced to their creative genius, but, through the prism of their reinterpretations, I also got acquainted with the essence of early rock’n’roll.



When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening and how does it influence your approach to creativity?


When an album particularly captures me, it feels like being adrift at sea, but in a nice way. I am afloat on an ocean of sound with waves of harmonies, lapping at my ears and inner core.

How would you describe your development as an artist in terms of interests and challenges, searching for a personal voice, as well as breakthroughs?

My development has been fraught and characterized by a dogged resolve to do things my way while always pushing myself further. The early years, when music seemed to naturally flow out from a never-ending source have given way to a more focused expression.

Over the years, I have come to accept my technical limitations on the different instruments I play (guitar, piano, harmonica) and have instead focussed on improving vocally by challenging myself to emulate and reinterpret the performances of the great vocalists and contemporary vocalists I admire.

Tell me a bit about your sense of identity and how it influences both your preferences as a listener and your creativity as an artist, please.

I am a life-asserting person and like to be surprised and challenged.

As a listener and artist, I always look for honesty, dedication and talent. These exclude any sort of comfort or shortcut that one might take in life or music.

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

My approach to music and art is to try to describe, mirror and reinterpret the world in a way that not only resonates with my beliefs and the audience but also highlights both the beauty and flaws of humanity.

How would you describe your views on topics like originality and innovation versus perfection and timelessness in music? Are you interested in a “music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?

I am humble enough to recognize that most of what I create is, by and large, a reinterpretation of things already existing. But I am also too ambitious and self-involved to renounce my urge to give my own take. My hope and profound conviction are that my personal history and development shape these songs in a way that makes them unique if not revolutionary new.

So, while I am standing on the shoulders of giants, I whistle my own tune for whomever wishes to listen.

Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools - and what are the most promising strategies for working with them?

Dedication and passion for music, both mine and that of others. For as long as this passion remains alive, I intend to make it the central focus point of every new project I undertake.

Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please.

I am an early riser, getting up between 6 and 7am. I meditate one hour every morning and start my day getting the administrative stuff out of my way.

Depending on the days this can take up a lot of the day, but when I am lucky, I find time to record, write and create.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece, live performance or album that's particularly dear to you, please?

My debut album Present is a patchwork of different songs, written over a long period of time, obsessively worked on and performed live on countless occasion.

Similarly, the production process has been achieved in numerous settings, with varied collaborators and diverse outlets.

Listening can be both a solitary and a communal activity. Likewise, creating music can be private or collaborative. Can you talk about your preferences in this regard and how these constellations influence creative results?

I always write the essence of my songs on my own, obsessively adjusting song structures, chord sequences and lyrics over months or years.

However, once the structure has solidified, I like the arrangements, recordings and live renditions to be worked out in a communal approach. Nothing makes me happier than having talented producers, musicians and sound engineers add ideas, flourishes and improvements to take the songs where I could not have taken them on my own.  

How do your work and your creativity relate to the world and what is the role of music in society?

A very difficult question and one that I have struggled with for years.

In my early years as a musician, my vision of events and the was very self-centred and self-involved. Gradually, I came to re-evaluate the importance of my own person and tried to adopt a more universal vision. Though my character, convictions and personal idiosyncrasies still shape the way these topics are treated, I am trying to make these ideas central.

Regarding my role as a musician and individual within society I have also been struggling for a long time. I’ve always been, and still am, very wary of misusing important political and societal themes in an opportunistic way to further my career. I’ve always been careful to separate my personal engagement from my identity as an artist.

However, as these themes permeate my artistic expression and lyrics more and more, there is also a sense of profound incoherence in that approach.

Art can be a way of dealing with the big topics in life: Life, loss, death, love, pain, and many more. In which way and on which occasions has music – both your own or that of others - contributed to your understanding of these questions?

One of the songs of the forthcoming album, “Breathe (a most beautiful present)" was written at a time of overwhelming hopelessness and personal despair.

The near-exhaustion and inertia experienced was fortunately overcome by discovering and mastering the meditation technique of Vipassana, to which the title refers. It allowed to reach a state of renewed creativity and optimism. Though this serenity is still put to the test by the injustice, inequality and threats of the outside world, there is an element of deep-rooted strength that comes from this new-found and inexhaustible inner strength.

In most of the other songs there is also cathartic dimension of coming to terms with the big topics in life.

How do you see the connection between music and science and what can these two fields reveal about each other?  

It is said that music is mathematical at its core. Yet, I find that the most interesting pieces of music are always those that dispense with the symmetry that would corroborate such a statement. I’ve always been more interested in the little quirks and flaws that make music, people and life worthwhile.

This is the reason why I do not believe that AI will ever be able to replace human songwriting, because its perfection and symmetry would lessen its emotional impact.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. 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?

Again, the separation of individual and artist is central in answering this question.

Though we live in a society that encourages the blending of these two aspects and incites us to abolish all frontiers between private life and public expression, I still feel that my “mundane” persona should remain separated from what I choose to display publicly.

If I make a great cup of coffee, write an elaborate letter to someone dear or create something that is meant for people in my private life, though there may be a similar creativity involved, the intention is fundamentally different and it should remain in the circle it was intended for.

Music is vibration in the air, captured by our ear drums. From your perspective as a creator and listener, do you have an explanation how it able to transmit such diverse and potentially deep messages?

To me, it is a combination of many factors, the musical vibrations just being one amongst many. The lyrics, personal uniqueness, delivery and overall intention of the creator at a specific point in time is what will give a song the power to reach across dimensions, divides and decades to connect with an audience.