Tracteur orange

I was born in the deeply rural French department of Mayenne, a place where, back then, cows famously outnumbered inhabitants. That is where my lifelong, visceral connection to rural landscapes and country roots comes from. This passion only deepened during a four-year professional stay in Alabama, the legendary heartland of the Blues, situated right between the jazz cradle of New Orleans to the south and the country music capital of Nashville to the north. Today, I split my life in France between the bustling energy of Lyon and a remote, tiny village hidden among the forests and fields of the Haute-Loire department in Auvergne.

My musical journey began in adolescence. I was supposed to follow in the footsteps of my older brother, who played classical piano, but the music teacher told me I was "too restless" and my "fingers were too soft." So, I became self-taught. Very early on, I started composing my own music and songs, accompanying myself on piano or guitar. Over the years, I played live in numerous bands as a singer, keyboardist, guitarist, and bassist, exploring a vast musical landscape spanning rock, pop, jazz, blues, and folk.

Yet, I always carried the frustration of never finding the right conditions, line-ups, or budgets to fully bring my music to life. Seeking total creative freedom, I turned to computer-assisted music and sampling, but it left me feeling incomplete. It was missing that raw, magical thrill of the exact moment you find a melody.

The true breakthrough came with AI. For the first time, I felt I had the world's finest arrangers, session musicians, vocalists, and sound engineers at my fingertips, entirely free from record label constraints. AI-assisted production finally allowed my songwriting to achieve a flawless, professional studio quality. No more poorly recorded drums or out-of-tune vocals; my compositions could finally be heard as I envisioned them.

But using AI is not about pressing a button and waiting for a miracle. It is a rigorous creative process. Each of my songs begins traditionally, composing at the piano, guitar, or synth, writing the lyrics, and mapping out the vocal delivery with the precise syllable placement, phrasing, and emotional inflections. Then comes AI intervention, the multitude of choices it offers, in terms of synthetic voices and arrangments in particular. The last steps consist in remixing, adjusting, editing and correcting so that the music I was meant to share is eventually produced.

What about fully independent, live singer-songwriters? I have nothing but absolute admiration for their complete artistry. As for me? I like to think of myself as a "semi-complete" artist (a bit like whole-wheat pasta!).

The Garden Trailors is the result of this creative laboratory. While it is a studio project today, one of my ultimate dream and achievement would be to see live musicians and artists take these songs, perform them on stage, and bring them to life in front of an audience.