German boys Piemont (aka Frederic Möring-Sack & Chri de Jonquieres ) have embarked on a really rich vein of form of late, with the Moonless Air EP (their most recent offering), proving a veritable assault on the senses for all the right reasons. Producers who are every bit as prolific as they are consistent, the boys’ penchant for the unusual has won them legions of fans over the years, so it’s no surprise that theirs is a sound that can be hard to adequately pigeonhole. We nabbed the boys for a quick chat recently, as they talked us through their labels, their hometown of Hamburg and their current inspirations…

Piemont Interview

HMWL: What’s up with the Piemont guys then? How are you doing?

Piemont: All well here thank you – hope the same for you!

And can you talk me through your labels? How much time do they take up these days?
We have been running two labels over the years, ‘Plumbum‘ and ‘Suchtreflex‘. Plumbum‘ went really good last year and was supported by all the big names such as Loco Dice and Nic Fanciulli. Though, we decided to pause our label activities for a while since we realised that we simply haven‘t enough time to manage these. Looks like we‘ll reactivate Plumbum by the end of the year with a complete new concept.

You have produced and release trackos on a lot of labels over the years. Do you ever worry that you’re spanning your net too far? Or is that something that you’ve ever thought about?

That‘s true, we have released on a large number of labels over the years. Sometimes it happened that we got the feeling that there were too many labels involved. On the other hand, we have now been releasing music as a duo since 7 years and it‘s simply not possible to release on the same labels over a number of years. Especially when you keep in mind that an artist‘s style varies through the years you have to look for other suitable labels once in a while. Right now it looks like we have found our favorite labels on which we‘re going to release for a long time 🙂

Was that the thinking behind setting up your own labels?

From time to time it occurred that we produced a track which simply didn‘t suit any of the labels we used to work with. Then we had the option to release it on our own label. That was the main thinking behind founding our own labels. But Suchtreflex wasn‘t limited to our own releases. Rather we release material from friends and people we like coming from our area.

Would either of you ever consider working on a solo basis? Or have you ever brought another producer into the set-up? How did it work out?

Both of us had their solo projects ‘Phunklarique‘ and ‘Dejonka‘ several years ago. But after a few years we just felt it was the right time to revaluate what we were doing musically. Ever since, Piemont has, step by step, become our main focus. By now, we haven‘t worked with other producers but we have now some interesting collaborations coming up in future. So watch out

Where are you guys based in Germany? How does it affect the music you make?

We both grew in Hamburg. In terms of electronic music it was an really inspiring place for us. First of all due to the manifold independent club scene and the huge amount of studio facilities. Even if Hamburg‘s scene doesn‘t belong to the most powerful ones in Germany, there were always a large number of influential producers hailing from Hamburg: Extrawelt, Solomun, Digitalism, Adana Twins, David August, just to name a few.

So how’s your day in he studios usually work out? Are they usually pretty lengthy?

We produce the idea and arrange the tracks together. As we have small studios at home, we often look for track elements at home by ourselves and bring them to the studio next day. Sometimes one of us produces a track independently. Then people can‘t say from whom it was written. It just sounds like Piemont 🙂 Frederic usually takes care of mixdown and mastering issues though. And yes, our studio days are lengthy. We prefer long studio sessions then we usually do one day off to get new inspiration.

Are your tastes pretty similar? Who’s the more creative and outspoken in the studio?

Yes, our tastes are nearly the same. After having spent many years together in the studio and after all those gigs we have played, our creativity has become more and more symbiotic. In other words, each of us doesn‘t take care of certain creative things. The creative part is done by both of us. We produce the idea and arrange the tracks together. As we have small studios at home, we often look for track elements at home by ourselves and bring them to the studio next day. Sometimes one of us produces a track independently. Then people can‘t say from whom it was written. It just sounds like Piemont.

Have you a favourite track on the Moonless Air EP? Which one was trickiest to make?

In fact, we really like both tracks here. According to our opinon these are one of the best ones we have prdocued so far and to be honest we do never say such things about our own music 🙂 We have put a lot of efford into both tracks. In total, we spent six weeks in the studio and are extremely happy with the rusult.

What producers do you look to for inspiration these days? Who do you reckon is closest in sound to you guys?

We have been huge fans of Hot Since 82 and Sidney Charles for a while now and really like the releases coming out on labels Such as Moda Black and Exploited and – of course – Get Physical. Hard to say who‘s the closest in sound to us, maybe it‘s right now a mixture of these artists and labels.

How would you best describe your style to someone who’s yet to sample your music?

We‘ve always had a preference for warm and natural sounds that could be heard in almost every production of us. Perhaps we would just call our style ‘Organic Techno‘.

What’s next for you guys?
We have some really exciting releases coming up the next month. First of all we have signed a track to Exploited. Moreover we‘ll release some tu
nes on ToolroomTrax and Pleasurekraft‘s imprint Kraftek.

Free Download: Piemont – Smooth Float

Piemont on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Piemontmusic/info