Special Friend
Special Friend’s debut album, Ennemi Commun, is already in the running for my favorite record of 2021. Their no-frills, lo-fi sound has just the right amount of space-occupying fuzz and plenty of minimalist pop hooks that checks off all of the right boxes for indie-pop obsessives like myself. And though they may be from Paris, they definitely carry the charming hallmarks of classic Scottish and C86 acts like The Pastels and The Vaselines, while simultaneously mixing in elements of slowcore and the more noisy experimentations of Yo La Tengo. The duo, which is made up of American ex-pat Erica Ashleton on drums and French native Guillaume Siracusa on guitar, expand on these influences on their debut full length, which saw them change their recording set up just a bit, opting to work with an excellent producer in Vincent Hivert (who is a member of En Attendant Ana and produced their most recent release, Julliet, which was one of our favorite records of 2020) in lieu of self-recording, and upgrading from a Tascam four-track to an eight-track. Those four extra tracks may not seem like much, but it definitely allows Special Friend to shine at key moments, as they introduce more vibrant harmonies, layered vocals, propulsive loud-quiet dynamics, and even some light keys.
We recently had the chance to chat with the French duo about recording Ennemi Commun, their incredible recent live session at Musées d'Angers, their first two shows in New York City (which happened mere days before lockdown), what’s next for the project, and more:
Congrats on the release of Ennemi Commun! I know it’s a weird time for musicians, especially those putting out new music. What’s it been like releasing a record during these strange times?
Erica: Thanks! This whole period since March 2020 has been so unpredictable... Despite everything, we decided to follow the course we had planned by recording last summer, finishing the mixes & mastering, and finally releasing the album on March 26th on two French labels: Hidden Bay Records and Howlin’ Banana Records. I think no one expected the pandemic to last this long, but instead of waiting indefinitely, we decided to release our music anyway, either because we’re impatient or because it makes sense for it to be released now instead of later, so we can move on to making new songs. It’s different because we weren't able to play a release show or organize a tour, but we were really lucky to be able to record a live session and release some DIY music videos to visually support the album. Plus there’s always Bandcamp.
Erica, you’re originally from Minnesota. What brought you to Paris? How’d you and Guillaume meet and begin collaborating?
Erica: I first moved to the south of France in 2012-2013 for an exchange program with my university. Definitely a life-changing experience, I had a hard time imagining moving back to the midwest, so I applied to work as an English teaching assistant, this time in Rennes, where I discovered a rich cultural and music scene. I met a lot of musicians that year, but later I had to move to Paris for school & work.
Some friends of friends invited me to a concert that was organized by Buddy Records (who later co-released our first EP) and that’s probably around the time I met Guillaume at a concert where he played with his other band Young Like Old Men. At this particular moment, I was already trying to form a band and I had made some tests with other musicians, but it wasn’t fruitful and I decided to learn to play drums. Guillaume’s band had a practice studio in the Parisian suburbs and I was interested in going there to practice. Guillaume offered to play guitar to help me practice, but instead of doing covers, we just naturally started composing songs that we recorded on a phone and later we decided that it was worth continuing. We were able to compose our first songs quite quickly and we recorded the first EP maybe 6 months after that moment, in 2018.
What do you remember about your early practices/collaborations? When you first started this project, did you click rather quickly?
Erica: As I mentioned above, we clicked really fast. Guillaume was also interested in playing & composing in an unconventional manner, so I guess my naive take on drumming was something that really liberated the creative process, no judgment, and no predefined expectations.
What are both of your backgrounds as far as playing music? Guillaume, have you been involved with other projects in Paris and Erica, did you play in any bands back here in the states?
Guillaume: Like Erica mentioned, I also play in a band called Young Like Old Men, with whom we released 2 LPs and an EP. I also played bass and guitar in several other bands before that.
Erica: I played some instruments in the past (flute, keyboard, a few guitar chords), but my “real” band experiences have been in France, first singing & drumming with Guillaume in Special Friend, at some point, I played keyboard with Guillaume in his other bandmate’s solo project Solcina, then later in a band called Hobby, and I started learning to play bass with a band called Gomme.
These songs came together last year. Did the pandemic and the associated circumstances (i.e. lockdown) speed up the writing and recording process for this album?
Erica: I’d say half of the songs were composed throughout 2018 and we’ve already been playing them live for a while, and the second half were composed throughout 2019. The pandemic actually slowed down the recording process, which also allowed us to be more patient and take our time over the course of 2020.
Guillaume: In the end, I think it gave us just the right amount of time for the songs to mature.
You recorded your debut EP by yourselves over the course of two days at your practice space, but for Ennemi Commun you worked with Vincent Hivert, who produced En Attendant Ana’s most recent record, Julliet. Why’d you decide to bring someone else into the mix to record this album? Julliet was also one of my favorite records of 2020. Did you decide you wanted to work with him after hearing that album?
Erica: Even though Guillaume is experienced in recording music, he wanted to work with someone else this time. We’ve known Vincent for a while, from the time when he was working as a sound engineer at a venue in Paris called Espace B. He’s seen us play before and always gave us positive feedback. It was important for us to work with someone who understood our music, which was the case with Vincent.
Guillaume: Not only his feedback was always positive but also often really relevant about how he perceived our music.
What was the recording process like? Was it condensed like it was for the EP or more spread out over time? What was it like working with Vincent? How did it compare to your first EP?
Guillaume: For me, it was liberating to let someone else handle the recording side of things. It allowed me to focus more on the songs and my playing and singing. And it gave us the opportunity to record on a tape machine which I’ve been wanting to do for a long time, and I think it really suits the band aesthetics.
Erica: It was less condensed, but still, we recorded everything over the course of 4 days in the middle of a heatwave in my friend’s house, literally between her living room and kitchen, later taking 2 days to record some overdubs, keyboards, and vocals that we didn’t have time to finish. It was great working with Vincent who is very skilled, patient, and kind. I learned a lot during this process and it forced me to be more precise.
Did you approach recording this album differently when compared with the EP? I know you recorded on a Tascam 8-track. How’d using that machine allow you to experiment more on these songs? There’s definitely more of a layered sound.
Erica: Not sure we experimented more because of the 8-Track, but it was definitely a new approach that forced us to try to make each take count, knowing we only had limited space on the tape. We’d all look at each other after recording a song, to decide if it was good enough to move on or if we could do better and try another take without being able to keep the previous takes as backup. Kind of a fragile process I guess?
I think something that really stood out to me about Ennemi Commun when compared with the EP is that a lot of the songs of this record are a bit hazier sounding. The tempos are slower and more relaxed, the harmonies are gorgeous and more present, and there’s a bit less fuzz overall, though it still works it way in at several different points. What do you attribute this shift in sound to? Did you go into the recording sessions wanting this album to sound different?
Guillaume: The EP was originally recorded as demos, so this time we naturally took more time to work on the arrangements.
Erica: I think everything just happened spontaneously, with no real objective. We just jam and test things and develop ideas that we like from the results of that.
I found “HCM” to be a really powerful way to end the record. It’s very soft and somber with illusions to death in the lyrics. Tell us a little bit about that track and why you decided to end the album with it?
Erica: Writing lyrics in English in France, I forget sometimes that people might actually understand what we’re singing about ;) this song was a bit of a risk for us, it was the first song we made with the idea that I would sing lead on it, but the high notes are very high and we felt it might be a bit weird to keep it on the album, but finally we kept it and put it at the end as a sort of “outro”.
Guillaume: This song stands out a bit compared to the rest of the record. It was either we put it first or last. I think we made a good choice, I like the way it ends the record.
Do you each have a favorite song on the record or a track that you like the backstory of?
Erica: I really like playing drums on “Flaring Jean,” it’s maybe the most “nuanced” for me so it’s fun. I also love playing “Forest” for the energy.
Guillaume: I also like “Flaring Jean” a lot, which is funny because when we first had the basic ideas for the song I didn’t like it that much, but Erica was convinced that we should make a song out of it.
Your sound really reminds me of Painful-era Yo La Tengo, who are probably my favorite band of all time. Are you both Yo La Tengo fans? How has that band influenced your work?
Erica: Painful is definitely my favorite Yo La Tengo album! We often cite Yo La Tengo as being one of our #1 influences, especially for Guillaume.
Guillaume: It really makes sense, I’ve listened a lot to this band. I’m also a big fan of their later quieter records like Summer Sun or And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-out.
The title Ennemi Commun translates to “Common Enemy,” which is literally the opposite of Special Friend. What’s the significance of the title?
Erica: It literally is exactly that. The idea came from a friend who made a joke one day that he was going to create a duo called Ennemi Commun to compete with us. While looking for something to sing during the chorus of that song, the idea came back and we really liked the way it sounded, so it stuck and later became the title of the album. We liked the duality of this sort of “invented” expression.
You recently did an awesome live session at the Musées d'Angers, which was a gorgeous setting to play live music. What was that like? Also, since there’s a bit more layering on this record, how do you envision performing the songs on Ennemi Commun in the live setting?
Erica: It was an amazing experience and our first live session ever. The team behind Capharnaum contacted us at a perfect time when we were looking to organize a live session in place of a release party. The setting attracted us in terms of aesthetics, but also for the powerful idea of being able to play in a museum in the current context today where museums and cultural venues remain closed to the public in France. The museum staff were also really pleased!
In terms of playing the new songs live, Guillaume plays with a loop pedal and we’ve tested the idea of maybe pre-recording keyboards on the loop, or for me to try to play keyboard at the same time while drumming on a song like “Pastel,” but we’ve also accepted the idea of just playing the songs live without keyboard or maybe recruiting someone someday, but I’d prefer to just do without.
What songs are you most looking forward to playing live?
Erica: All of them :-D
Guillaume: Half of the songs in the record have already been played live so I’d say the other half!
You played two shows in New York in early March of 2020 with some friends of mine like Kevin Hairs, Holy Tunics, and Seamstress. I’m sad to have missed those! How’d those gigs go and what was it like playing in New York? They literally happened days before things shutdown. Kind of crazy to think about.
Erica: That’s cool that you know all of them, they were all great and I was super proud of the lineup! I organized these two shows and I discovered these bands through Psycho Pat, who I was put in contact with through Tall Juan, who I had interviewed for a webzine a few years back. It was really cool to play outside France and in the US for the first time, right before the paranoia and travel restrictions were announced. I feel really lucky, but I’d really love to organize a real US tour in more cities and for a longer period… who knows when?
Guillaume: It’s been a bit frustrating for me because I got sick the day I arrived in New York (I got tested and apparently it wasn’t Covid) and I lost my voice just during the two days the shows were booked. I was barely able to make a sound the second night when we played at Berlin in the East Village, but fortunately Erica was able to sing all the songs, even the ones she normally doesn’t sing on. I was really impressed, she saved the show!
Who are some bands/artists from your local scene that you’re currently digging that you’d recommend to our readers?
Guillaume: Sex Sux, Pays P.
What’s next for Special Friend?
Guillaume: Touring would be great, and new records.
Erica: Composing new songs, hopefully playing some concerts soon.
Ennemi Commun is available now via Hidden Bay Records and Howlin’ Banana Records. You can purchase a copy on vinyl through either of those labels or via Special Friend’s Bandcamp. The album is also available on all streaming platforms. You can also check out the band’s incredible recent live session at the Musées d'Angers via YouTube.
Ennemi Commun
