Early this year, Yoann Lemoine took us to more than a narrative with the autobiographical album “The Golden Age”. Through the eyes of the character Woodkid, we immersed ourselves into the emotional, mother-y and psychoanalytic narrative explored with sounds, textures, ambiances and a lot of symbolism through his music and self directed videos.
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The whole project was a result of childhood and his teenage years. “It’s a definition from who I am. It’s all about honesty and being faithful with who you are, your DNA and what you build with your experiences.” His work as a director started off back in 2004, when he joined Luc Bresson’s crew in Paris. 8 years later, he was directing video clips for artists like Lana Del Rey, Drake, and Rihanna, leading him find his own art in a way.
“I didn’t have the experience as a director, and these years really help me to build the visual identity. I wasn’t prepared vocally also. It was something I evolved all those years. I do believe things happens in the right time, when things work like that is it’s like a planet alignment or something. Maybe it wouldn’t work 10 years ago, maybe people wouldn’t understand the concept. I think it works well in Europe because it’s relevant to the times we are in. My hope is an actual project.”
The project unexpectedly resulted in sold out shows all over Europe, videos with millions of views on Youtube, songs featured on commercials. “It went kind of crazy, but it doesn’t change the integration of the album, and what I’ve done. Success can change the perception of an artist through people’s eyes, but for me the album is still the same, my music stayed the same”.
Lemoine himself it’s not someone who aimed to be in the spotlight. As a very discreet person, he focused on making himself bigger and more interesting through his art. As you may have noticed, he’s not the usual charismatic performer eager to entertain. He’s here to promote questions and some thinking through his music. “When you are an artist, you need to have a Trojan horse in your music: it looks beautiful, people love it, but inside of it you can have something that is even more insidious, indicating, and a sense of death, that’s how you can change things. I have an audience of kids who love video games, they like my music, because it has that aesthetic. In the middle of it, I try to give the message that it’s ok to be gay, or a sense of tolerance. They don’t even think about these questions in these communities. Lady Gaga defending gays to an audience that are just gays doesn’t change anything, of course they are going to agree with her. If you do Catholic music and have a massive Catholic audience and bring the message there, that’s how you bomb the system”.
Lemoine’s music doesn’t try at all to be political or extreme, but delivers a soft message, of what life should be, reaching the right people in a smart way through his vast audience: 50 year old couples, hip hop kids, young hipsters. “I love the idea of breaking into a world that is not yours. Not considering people as enemies, sometimes you need to talk to people that are very different point of views to evolve”.
With one project after the other, he’s on to making his first feature film, but not before one last video to close the Woodkid tale. If he’s coming back, we don’t know, but to make sure you don’t miss him. Here are the dates of the next (last?) tour:
October 14, Monday
Union Transfer
Philadelphia, PA
08:00
October 15, Tuesday
Webster Hall
New York, NY
08:00 PM
October 16, Wednesday
Royale Boston
Boston, MA
07:00 PM
October 17, Thursday
Métropolis
Montreal, QC
08:00 PM
October 18, Friday
The Danforth Music Hall
Toronto, ON
09:00 PM
October 25, Friday
The Fonda Theatre
Hollywood, CA
09:00 PM
