I saw Allumette perform in a stifling hot attic in Moncton, NB and she put on a very entertaining show. Her set combined elements of synth jams, vocals in English and French, spoken word, and even some performance art, as she busied herself watering plants and reading a book to them during her set. This song “8 Hours” is super catchy and it stayed in my head for a long time after the show.
How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never heard you before?
Well, it’s pop music, but that could mean anything. It’s electronic, often repetitive, very simple, pretty happy, pretty eery. I played music my whole life but was never able to write a song I liked until I got into Coldwave a few years ago and started my first solo project. Allumette isn’t nearly as dark and heavy as Most Ghost was but it kept a solid goth bone structure, only with more off beat claps and marimbas and woodwinds. It’s warm and sterile and funny and unsettling.
What gear/software/techniques did you use in making this recording?
I use GarageBand. I’m always a little bit embarrassed to say it but it’s just convenient for me because I lose focus very easily. I’ll just write a little loop and walk away from it and leave it on for an hour while I do other things around the house and then more bits start to show up. I have a whole stack of short loops on my laptop that never went anywhere. Once in a while I’ll get really into one of them and it turns into songs before I know it. Writing music is a lot like drawing for me. I have a xaphoon I used on some other tracks, and sometimes I’ll throw in some recorder, but the sax in this one is all software. I have a big soft spot for wind instruments in dark/cold/new wave, I just find it real sexy and mysterious.
What mood or mental state do you hope to evoke in the listener with this music?
I guess I’m trying to convey a sense of joyful distress. It’s soothing nightmare music. This song is about an imaginary friendship with Alp, a demon that sits on your chest while you sleep to feed off of milk or blood from the nipple, science likes to call it sleep paralysis. But hey this is starting to sound pretty serious, hmm. So what I should say is that I hope you’ll find it really catchy and fun, but that it’ll make you uncomfortable as well.
Find Allumette online:
https://mostghost.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/most.guest.best.host/
https://www.instagram.com/tr_mp_tt_s/
