Interview with Emeric Levardon | By Nicholas Senior
Much like those famous flying saucers in ‘50s sci-fi films, Emeric Levardon’s Hollywood Burns debut, Invaders—out now via Blood Music—has come out of nowhere, and it doesn’t come in peace.
The album abruptly abducts your perceptions of synthwave by daring to broaden the musical scope beyond the ‘80s. Sure, the boisterous and throbbing basslines and dance-floor-ready synth melodies will warm any cyberpunk’s heart, but Invaders is equal parts Perturbator and John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, or Goblin. Seriously, there’s a song on the record that will incite a trickle of fear in anyone who has seen “Suspiria”—before working its way down to your shaking hips. Invaders works so incredibly well because Levardon expertly melds the silly with the serious, the synth with the cinematic. Few records are so visual in telling a story.
It’s a testament to the Parisian artist’s talent that his retro stylings feel decidedly unique rather than like a dated homage. “For this project, I tried reinvent the myth of the saucers to make them scary again,” he explains. “Saucers look very naïve and childish now. I was trying to make them scary again, which is not that easy. [The album’s visual artist and I] wanted to build on the idea of ‘What if these saucers were made in the deepest flames in Hell, something with no mercy?’ It’s not necessarily satanic, just made out of pure evil. It was very far from the ‘50s saucers.”
“What I like,” he continues, “is the contrast between the cheesy monsters and the very serious. The Theremin sounds very naïve and silly, and the music around it is very serious. The contrast makes it interesting. It’s all fun. I don’t take it or myself very seriously.”
Invaders sounds so cinematic because, despite his obvious musical skill, Levardon is a cinephile first and foremost. “I am more of a cinema lover than music lover,” he confirms. “I’m more influenced by movies and shows than music, especially Hollywood movies from the ‘80s to early ‘00s. I guess that’s probably why I chose my name,” he laughs.
“My favorite artist ever is John Williams,” he elaborates. “I think you could guess that from the first track in the album, [‘Opening Titles’]. What I love about him is, every five seconds, you have a new idea. He never repeats. I try to do the same thing, to not let the audience get bored too quickly. He’s the best at creating interesting melodies, but his scores help the audience know what’s going on in the movie and the relationships of the characters.”
Much like that ode to campy Hollywood, “Mars Attacks,” Hollywood Burns aims to put some menace back in the alien mythos, all while having a bit of fun along the way. From his impressive first LP, Levardon is proving adept at musical storytelling and is a bright new voice in synthwave.
