Words by Jim Ottewill

“I love the naive qualities of movie soundtracks and library music. The lack of cynicism means these sounds really stand out, especially when there’s so much self-indulgence in the way most music is presented to the world…”

Gaspard Augé is in his Parisian home exploring the inspirations he’s melted down into his debut solo outing ‘Escapades’ from behind a pair of gold shades, thick curly hair, and a vape. 

You might recognise him as the seemingly quieter half of Grammy-winning electronic rockers Justice. From their pulsating crucifix logo to the leather jackets and chain-smoking aesthetic, Gaspard and his partner in crime, Xavier de Rosnay, have put some serious dents in our contemporary musical world via blending brilliant pop, feedback, and dance floor shaking crunch. From the euphoria of hits such as ‘D.A.N.C.E’ to the bone-rattling ‘Waters Of Nazareth’, the purity of their music runs right to Gaspard’s new record. Although his solo release is several steps sideways from the stacks of Marshall amplifiers the Justice live shows are notorious for. 

“I’ve tried to take this record beyond the ego,” he explains. “By making something mainly instrumental - there are choirs and just one word of ‘Hey’ throughout - it’s more universal. Leaving language behind means there’s no barrier between anyone and the music and helps make it more timeless.”

The world of Gaspard’s debut album ‘Escapades’ is a thrillingly fantastic one and an open invitation to poke around in the synapses binding his mind together. Set in a strange place somewhere beyond the turbulence of today’s geopolitical landscape, the 12-track record has been trailered by a series of short, cinematic videos, balancing stylised beauty with an unsettling sense of intrigue. In Hey, a Mongolian horse rider storms through an epic mountain backdrop while furiously playing a white violin. In ‘Pentacle’, a circle of drummers perform while a leaf-covered figure circles on a segway. All seem linked but while each informs the other, the results raise more questions than answers.

“It’s very important to create a setting to place the music in,” he says. “You can’t really tell when or where it’s been shot - it’s like a combination of Monty Python, Fellini, and Roy Anderson. I really wanted the whole album to be slightly absurd and have this open-ended meaning.

Gaspard was keen for the record to not just be the solo adventures of one of the members of Justice but arrive almost on its own terms. He deliberately looked to unshackle ‘Escapades’ from his past while creating a narrative capable of taking any future aural road. 

“It was fun to create a new musical character and visual universe,” Gaspard says. “I didn’t even want to be in the videos but it’s probably more appealing and fun for people to put a face to the music. Ultimately, the visuals allow you to make up your own story around the songs. It’s up to you to imagine what happened before and what’s going to happen next.”

Justice has been a key concern for Gaspard and Xavier de Rosnay for the best part of 20 years. Ever since We Are Your Friends, a killer remix of indie band Simian’s Never Be Alone, rewired dance music in the mid-2000s, they have gone from DJ sets in sweaty Parisian basements and fashion parties to storming some of the world’s biggest arenas with their live show. 

During Justice’s musical journey, Gaspard has been storing snatches of ideas and melodies while stocking up on inspiration via an insatiable record collecting habit. He’s fed these two strands into a creative process he wanted to make as speedy as possible. “One of the important things with this was to reduce how long we spent writing and recording,” Gaspard says. “I enjoy working fast to keep the energy and excitement of the music. Sometimes, when you spend too much time on anything you can lose the plot and get tired. Working quickly was a great way to make a record and have fun without too much pressure.” 

Gaspard collaborated with two friends, French composer Victor le Masne and sound engineer Michael Declerck, on the album, pulling most of it together at the Motorbass Studio in Paris, the home of fellow French dance music icons Cassius. “There was no concern about it being all analogue or all digital - we never really care too much about the kind of gear we use to help us get to the songs,” he says of the creative process. “But we did have access to some amazing outboard gear and synths/instruments. We were like kids in a candy shop, just trying whatever we wanted.”

While they indulged in all manner of sonic amenities and tools offered by Motorbass, Gaspard kept the project fluid by also working out of an alternative studio, one which was less equipped with expensive vintage gear. “We found this very cheap keyboard with these amazing presets,” he says. “It really doesn’t matter about the price of the equipment you use to help your creativity.”

The cheap synth was a Korg DW 8000 with an interesting history if the studio owner is to be believed. “Apparently he bought it from one of the band members of the prog-rock band Yes. So we might have used some of their presets on the record,” laughs Gaspard. “I don’t know their catalogue extensively but what is dear to my heart about them is the visuals, they have an amazing logo and this kind of fantasy iconography built around them through the weird Roger Dean paintings on their album sleeves.”

Listen to the 12 tracks on ‘Escapades’ and it’s hard to ignore the influence of film composers on Gaspard in terms of the emotional depth and detail in his work. “I’m a huge fan of Ennio Morricone and all these old Italian composers like Alessandro Alessandroni,” he agrees. “The more you dig into their obscure records, you’ll always find something new. This kind of time traveller digging is almost bottomless.” 

Gaspard has spent years immersing himself in this sometimes dusty musical world, trawling through crates and basements of old vinyl to uncover nuggets of gold. It’s the selfless approach of the musicians and writers that really draws him in. “They’re so creative yet they don’t think of themselves as artists, they’re more like pioneers of the home studio or different techniques,” he states. “As this music was meant to be put to images, they had to be emotionally illustrative and stimulating.”

Although he’s no classical music expert, Gaspard also appreciates how many of these compositions continue to emotionally reverberate, despite being written hundreds of years ago. “These kinds of pieces are always used in movies and commercials. But this overuse comes from just how emotive they are,” he says. 

“The emotions in classical music are way more subtle than today’s popular music. And this is what I look for when I’m listening to records or scores. I’m not crazy about free jazz or other forms of overly demonstrative music - but I enjoy a chord progression that surprises me and gets me to an emotional zone I’ve not been to before, even if it makes me feel uneasy.”

Escapades invites the listener to take a step out of the everyday and into the wilds of Gaspard’s imagination. With so many concepts ricocheting throughout, it is perhaps unsurprising that he’s drawn to the power of our subconscious. “When you are in this dream-like state, sometimes an idea will appear,” he says. “You’ll be thinking that’s a good melody so it’s a lot of whistling into my phone when I’m half asleep. If it still makes sense when I’m properly awake, then I’ll put the chords and melodies into a rough skeleton, then try to develop it from there.”

Again, films from cinematic auteurs such as Federico Fellini and David Lynch are key figures for driving the creative process forward. “I love their movies as there’s no one truth to understanding them, they are so open to multiple interpretations,” he explains.“As a listener, it means you can put more of yourself into it. Rather than it being clear about what a piece of art is about, it makes it more participative for you to engage with.”

Alongside this latest solo endeavour, Gaspard is also busying himself in the studio, working on new Justice material for what should be their fourth studio album. With his songwriting collaborator Xavier, the pair are striving to deconstruct their formula for musical success. “We are trying to leave behind the traditional pop format of verse, chorus, verse, chorus,” he says. “It’s interesting to examine the craft and there’s something about making the perfect pop song. But now we’re fascinated by how hip hop artists build their songs, making this kind of Frankenstein-esque creature way of editing.” 

Justice’s albums have raised the benchmark for mainstream pop production and sounds ever since the release of their debut album † in 2007. Waters of Nazareth was one of the first indicators of what the record would sound like - which was like nothing else at the time. Its mix of distortion and heavy bass riffs is enough to blow both speakers and minds. “It was really weird when people first heard it - even our label manager wasn’t that pleased about the track and we almost put it on the b-side,” laughs Gaspard. “But our friend DJ Medhi was smart enough to recognise how good it was. When we first played it in clubs, people would come over to check the needles on the decks were working but now it sounds completely normal in a club environment.”

The success of the track embodies Gaspard’s advice for new and emerging producers. He believes there’s a lot to be said for holding something back in our current world of social media oversharing. Rather than waiting for someone else to give you the go-ahead, it’s important to develop your own tastes and obsessions. “The most interesting thing you can do is be as sincere as you can without trying to be trendy or meet people’s expectations. Great art doesn’t usually come from providing people with what they want to hear…”