Clown & Sunset Interview: Valentin Stip
For our final day of the Clown & Sunset special we thought we’d bring you the newest member of the family, Valentin Stip. The Paris, France born 19 year-old, began playing piano at an early age, and after relocating to Montreal, Canada, missed the piano to such an extent that he began experimenting with music on his computer. After listening to some tracks we’re very pleased he made the jump to his computer and think you will enjoy it to!
PlanetNotion: How would you describe your music?
Valentin Stip: I think of music as a substitute for words. I am able to express myself in a much more elaborate way through chords, “heart” beats (very slow) and instruments than I would if I wrote a paragraph about it. And since my music is inspired by everyday life, I guess that in a way, I see my music as a very abstract personal journal.
PN: What’s been exciting your eyes and ears the most in the last month?
VS: A friend of mine showed me Tarkovski’s “Zerkalo” (The Mirror) which completely blew me away. It was amazing as it was the first time that I managed to feel sublime emotions through the development of images. As for music, I have been oscillating between old Hip-Hop like Gang Starr or J Dille (both I discovered very recently) and in terms of “house” music (I don’t really like genres) I’ve been listening to Frivolous and Superpitcher. And of course, I still listen to a lot of classical music.
PN: How’d you get involved with Clown & Sunset?
VS: Since I’ve started producing I’ve sending my stuff to Nico for feedback and comments. With time, I oriented myself towards slower stuff, I let go of the synths to start recording more stuff and push the music that I was making further. The C&S artists inspired me a lot in this way, as they transcend electronic music, each in their own way.
PN: How’d you approach playing live?
VS: At first I found it very challenging to get away from the structure of the tracks. For some reason, in my mind, they were as they are. But Nico showed me a lot of things that made me realize that it is more of a way to make your tracks interact with one another, to make them live outside of their realm of existence. In a way I find it very introspective.
PN: Anyone you’d really like to collaborate with in future?
VS: I have a some friends who make electronic music and with who I will definitely start making music (I have already started with some of them). But if I were to choose an artist that is already “out there” that I don’t know personally, I would have to say Marc Leclair, as I have a lot of respect for his music and for his take on life as a whole.
PN: What can we expect from your upcoming releases?
VS: I hope to push the intentions of my music as far as I can. I might start experiencing with my voice and see what I can get out of it. I also want to try and produce as freely as possible. Whenever I feel like I slowly close a little box around my music, it makes me sad and angry. I want to be able to live things through music.
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