#nascentny

Valentin Stip is a Franco-American, classically-trained pianist and electronic musician. He debuted on Clown & Sunset in the spring of 2011 with his EP Anytime Will Do. Valentin Stip has just released his debut long player Sigh on Nicolas Jaar’s subscription based Other People imprint to extremely positive reception. Germany’s Musik Express made it an Album of the Week, DJ Broadcast interview him as Artist of the Week, and Quip called Sigh a “mind-transforming experience in its ambient-electronic genre”. After a summer tour of New York, London and Berlin, Valentin is now based in Brooklyn. He is a founding member of the Montreal based Booma Collective, a collaborative project and record label. We sat down with Mr. Stip ahead of his DJ performance at Cameo for nascent. 003 to ask a few questions…

- You moved to NYC from Paris at an early age. What prompted this move?

I moved there when I was ten because my father had been transferred there through his job.

 - Classical Piano seems to serve as a centerpiece in your music. Which Classical pieces or composers have influenced your tastes growing up?

I studied classical piano seriously from the age of 12 or 13 and I was very drawn to romantic sonorities, and how harmony can express emotions. Beethoven and Rachmaninoff were the first ones that struck me, but then I discovered Chopin and Liszt who also amazed me. From there I could make a long list, but I guess those were the “pillars” of my appreciation for classical music.

- What is your current studio set up like?

I do not presently work with a specific studio setup. I have always been quite a nomad with production and I’ll sometimes make a lot of music sitting in the most unusual places. For example, I worked on a lot of the album in the cafe of the busiest library of my school in Montréal. I liked having to create a little bubble to work in.

- What does a typical day’s session consist of?

I oscillate between jamming with my friends, mixing and listening to records, reading, making music and playing piano. There never is a precise order, but I try to do all of these things during the day.

- Do you often share ideas with any of the artists on Other People?

Yes. I studied philosophy, so I have a tendency to ramble on about metaphysical things. Thankfully all of my friends happily follow me in these endless conversations, hehe…

- There seems to be a lot of field-recorded sounds at play in your latest LP, ‘Sigh.’ What were a few of these recorded parts? Does it take a while to find what you need from these recordings?

I find a lot of the field recordings on internet sound banks. I always look for something specific, like a character (say the wind, or a street) and I assemble them to create sceneries. I will also just record myself walking in my apartment or making movements so as to make the floor crackle and then add it to a track for percussion. It’s usually pretty intuitive and spontaneous though.

- ‘Sigh’ has been sequenced as a continuous piece of music. Was each song initially written to follow another? Was there a general theme at play from the beginning or did it develop over time? Were there any sonic avenues unfulfilled in this album that you’ll be exploring next? 

Each song was made separately. But towards the end of the whole process I started having a wider vision of what I wanted to do, so if I felt a track was not fitting or that one was missing, I would make a track with that gap or replacement specifically in mind. I’ve been exploring more rhythmical ways lately so I have no idea where this will take me  next 

- What is your record digging process like? Are there shops in Montréal that you frequent? Which elements do you look for in music to be played on the dance floor?

I just look for things that resonate inside of me. It goes through all kinds of genres but I just have a special feeling when I hear a track that I really like. On the dance floor I try to recreate that feeling through association of different tracks or by letting the music do its magic. For the stores, I have moved to New York now, where I go to halcyon and A1 to find new records. I also spend a lot of time online looking for stuff that might not be readily available.

- Any plans for the rest of the summer? 

I am not yet sure what I’ll be doing this summer but I’ll be around in New York and in Europe maybe 

 I will probably be doing more mixing.