COUCOU CHLOE for Glamcult #137 THE DAWN ISSUE

This article is taken from Glamcult #137 The Dawn Issue.

French-born, London-based musician and producer COUCOU CHLOE, aka Chloe Erika Jane Olivié, is carving her own path. At the forefront of the futuristic music scene, her tracks — defined as a fusion of hyper-pop, techno and club music — are a concoction of ominous, alluring and dark beats. Interlacing moody vocals and animalistic sounds is her calling card, riding the unexpected line between unsettling and fun. Having co-founded the music collective and record label, NUXXE, alongside her subcultural creative peers, Sega Bodega and Shygirl, Olivié has released several works on the label, including the much-loved NAUGHTY DOG EP and the single, NOBODY. Her most recent, self-released EP, ONE struck our Glamcult senses, building a dreamlike inner world, combining both her striking style and enigmatic artistry. We sat down to discuss COUCOU CHLOE’s creative journey, and how she conjures up such dynamic beats in the midst of this dystopian dawn.

Hey Chloe! It’s amazing to chat with you today. Can you begin by telling us a little bit about yourself? I’m COUCOU CHLOE, I am a producer and vocalist from a town next to Nice in the south of France. I moved to London five years ago where I decided to start making music. France was boring, it was nice and pretty but I didn’t really feel stimulated. I didn’t feel like I could grow as a person, I was a bit caged and so I moved to London… it was life changing!

When was it that you realised music was really what you wanted to pursue?
So, I used to play piano, but stopped when I was 13. I only wanted to do lessons with one teacher but they weren’t available so I thought, “Fuck it, I’m just going to buy a keyboard and try to do it on my own.” I think this is how I started, confronted with the fact that, in the beginning, I didn’t know how to make music and didn’t have the technique. This unknown gave me the desire to create something and, ultimately, is why I started experimenting with sound. I also went to art school, and I learned a lot about installation and sound there, it was through these experimentations that I realised I wanted to make music.

So, in many ways you began as you meant to go on — explorative and experimental. Have other artistic disciplines inspired you as an artist?
Definitely! At art school I was really interested in the concept behind sound. If I was to reference an artist it would be John Cage. He invited a lot of people to come to a music performance, but no music was played, and it was silent. I was really inspired by this and some other conceptual artists, because I believe you don’t need a “technique” if you want to express something—there is always an alternative way to do something.

Totally, and alternative ways to intersect the genres of sound.
There’s also this band I used to listen to called Ween. I discovered this movement of people just doing whatever they want. It’s quite experimental. They do some pop, country—noise, essentially. For example, one track is just a guitar and them ordering food. When I first heard this, I was like, “Damn! You can just do whatever you want!”

The vastness of creativity is immense — something which becomes immediately apparent in London. This metropolitan landscape must have been a great contrast to rural France.
Absolutely! London is where I discovered a community, one that I had never experienced before; I was so inspired by being around like-minded people. When I first moved, I was still just making music in my room but I felt more connected to a scene—it made me want to do more. Everything changed when I moved there, and everything happened so fast. From creating in my room, all of a sudden, I started to play gigs and I just kept thinking to myself, like, “What the fuck? I don’t even know how to make music! I don’t even know what I do!”

Despite these insecurities, the audience really connected to your work on a deep level. But wow, you were really thrown in at the deep end…
Oh, fuck yeah! When I was asked to do Boiler Room in 2016 (after I released my first EP), my label asked if I wanted to do live or digital. I had, like, three songs, and I thought, “What am I going to do?” So, I thought, “Fuck it, I’m going to DJ.” Bearing in mind, I’d never DJ-ed in my life or used a CDJ. In my head, I just thought, “If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work—what’s the worst that can happen?!”

In this case — nothing! That set is so sick. Your record label, NUXXE, was also founded in London. How did that come together?
When I first moved to London I met Sega Bodega, then later I met Shygirl. We quickly all became so close because we were working together and always showing each other stuff. The three of us didn’t really truly identify with a “scene” and wanted to make our own thing and be booked together on line-ups. We just knew that would be fun. We then named our crew, to create a kind of entity. Soon after, we released our tracks through that name NUXXE, and we then became a label.

There’s really a synergy when you guys come together.
Definitely! We supported each other from the beginning, and found the strength and confidence to be, like, “Fuck it, let’s do what we want to do.” We brought each other up and it’s beautiful to do that with friends, it’s really inspiring.

I am interested in the multi-layered mood to your tracks. They’re sinister but also alluring and fun. When I’m listening, I don’t know where it’s going to go next. How do you tap into these different moods?
There are so many different emotions to feel; I can feel shit in a lot of different ways, I can feel angry in a lot of different ways, there’s so much complexity in emotion. I don’t overthink it. Sometimes I can make fun of myself and be dumb and sometimes be angry; I just see where it goes. I feel a lot of different things (and all those things intensely). I’m not fully aware of what I’m expressing when I do it, I just let the emotions that I’m feeling run through.

It’s this fluidity that essentialises the COUCOU CHLOE identity.
As a person, and an artist, there’s so many things to feel and express. One day you can make a beautiful track, and another you can make something totally different… and it’s still you. It makes me happy when you say you don’t know where it’s going, because in the end, I don’t know either! I think that’s what is beautiful. Ultimately, I don’t think too much when I make music; I try not to engage too much with the outside world, or how it will be perceived, because I don’t want to betray what I want to express. For a long time, I didn’t want to express soft feelings, I was uncomfortable even though I was feeling them. It’s still dark and emotional.

The track BLINK on your most recent EP, ONE, is a great example of this pure expressionism. It’s much slower, and has a different energy to the intensity of the other tracks.
I made BLINK a long time ago. In the track, I repeat the line, “I will never, ever let you down”, letting myself lose my breath when I say that. I could have said it cleaner, where I don’t lose my breath, but I like it. With this track I tried to put a beat on it but it didn’t feel really right. And at one point when I wanted to finish this track, I even wanted to make it more intense. However, I showed the song to my grandma when she was dying. When she heard it, she got so emotional that she started to cry. She said, “Wow that’s so beautiful, I want this for my funeral.” In that moment, I was like, “Of course, if that’s what you want!” After her saying that, I decided that I didn’t add to it or make it any more intense, I wanted it to be what she heard in that moment… and that’s why I stopped it there.

That’s so beautiful. Wow.
Yes, I couldn’t go to the funeral, but it’s nice to know that I was there within the music. It’s a very special track for sure.

Does channelling your emotions in this way, through real-life experiences, make your music an internal exploration — does it help you cope with the everyday?
I feel music is what makes me feel connected to the outside world somehow. I think I’m disconnected from reality because I don’t have the same life as the people around me.

Like this story of your grandma. When you look back at your music, does it pinpoint certain moments in your life?
It’s funny, it’s like a tattoo — you do it and will always remember the moment. With music, when I look back, I can see how much I’ve learned my craft. It’s really interesting and fascinating for me to have these checkpoints in life; the time I did “this” thing or expressed “that” feeling. Every track talk about its time, it’s like a diary. I’m really grateful for that. It helps me to think about, and acknowledge, the act of time passing.

Your music also creates these moments and acknowledgments of time for the listener. ZERO FIVE STARS particularly resonates with this idea… the sun is coming up after a long night partying, “It’s way too bright outside what the fuck.” This is an ultimate club track. Do you find you’re inspired by the spaces and energies of nightlife?
Honestly, I don’t really go to clubs. But experiencing live music definitely inspires me. Even when I perform my music live, and feel the bass, that inspires me. I don’t think actively of the club when creating a song though. It’s funny, because for me it’s hard to listen to a track and imagine people partying. It’s so weird! I can’t hear it. I’m so happy I don’t have to listen to my music as I find it annoying. I find it super crazy that people dance to my music.

But it’s so great to dance to! You mention performing live inspires you. It must be amazing to share something so internal and see it affect people?
It’s completely surreal. I just love it. When I’m on stage, I’m not doing anything technical, I just want to be there and experience my music with other people. It makes me so happy and I feel alive. Performing live is not an ego trip, but to give the experience to people and them giving love and appreciation in return is amazing. It’s a different language, a beautiful exchange. I need that, that’s for sure.

In your tracks the lyrics are often inaudible, layered with animal sounds and beats. What is the process of playing the voice, lyrics and sounds in your work? Is it intentional that we can’t always make out the words?
It’s funny to me, because I can hear them — but I know that’s because I add effects. When I heard the tracks with my voice louder, I actually felt uncomfortable. I felt like I was treating my voice like the song. Since ERIKA JANE, I’ve calmed down a little with the effects.

What ignited this love for sound distortion, and your journey back to the voice?
Before, I was recording in my room on my bed, and didn’t want my flatmates to hear me! Now, I definitely use less effects and you can hear more of my voice in the music. I’m not entirely sure why, maybe because I have more things to say with my voice than before?

I love that. But, the use of animalistic noises is also so great.
The animalistic noises are actually things that I found from YouTube.

I was just about to ask—where do these come from?
I literally just type into YouTube the sound I need, and find the one I like! One time, I was looking for a rooster sound… I was blasting out this rooster super loud in my room and my flatmates were like, “What are you doing!?” I also work with synth but it can feel too clean and digital.

And is there a preference in animals? Now we know you like the rooster!
I like using roosters, goats and other animals. I just love it because the process is so different to working with a synth. I fuck around with the settings, I can stretch it, add effects and have so much fun with it. With the rooster sound I can be, like, “What the fuck can I do with it to make it a whole song based on just that one sound?” With this experimentation, I find what I really want to do because I never really know where it’s going. I figure it out as I go along.

COUCOU CHLOE is difficult to categorise. I’m interested: do you have any musical inspirations?There’s Ween, like I mentioned, alongside another band called CAN. I love Chopin as well! Snoop Dogg definitely; he has an album called The Last Meal, and there’s an artist on their called Kokane who I love. I also used to listen to a lot of Eminem when I was younger. I was fascinated by how, in his music and videos, he would have a conversation with himself, and play different characters in the same song. Those little moments were always inspiring me subconsciously because, now, I love to do this in my songs.

This is totally visible — particularly in your visuals where you play with different identities. For example, the ONE cover, where you’re wearing a wedding dress, mixing hyper-femininity with a cool-eddy character. It represents the vibe of your tracks in some ways; can you talk about the imagery here?
The EP was already done and I was talking with a friend when I thought, “You know what? I want to be a bride.” I called my EP “ONE”, and it’s funny because it’s called ONE and alludes to “the only one”. I just wanted to see myself as a bride and be like, “Fuck it, this is going to be my bride moment.” And that will be the only time I will wear a wedding dress. Sometimes it’s just how I want to play with the representations of myself. Sometimes I don’t want to overcomplicate it and find a deeper meaning, I just like to have fun.

Love it! Is sounds like you enjoy creating the visuals alongside the tracks.
For me, visuals have always been an important part of the identity of an artist. Sometimes I want to say it is just the music, but that’s not true. Music and visual identity go together. But you’re right, I love creating visuals. When I make visuals, sometimes I have a very pure idea, and sometimes I don’t really know where I’m going! But, in the end, what I show in the imagery helps me understand even more what I’ve already expressed in the track.

Do you have an example of this journey? From track, to imagery, to deeper understanding.
For the WIZZ video. In this track I’m talking to myself about getting high and letting go as I’m trapped in this circus / club — it’s a bit ironic. So, in the video, I’m in a pink limo. Super tacky. This video to me is witty, and it documents my idea of “the party’ and being trapped in this thing… driving around and around and going nowhere.

Do you feel like you explore different parts of yourself within this visual language?
Yeah, I love it. It’s important for me because it’s a different job to making music, there’s a real question of representation. I’m not trying to picture myself as someone I’m not. I still show myself in a certain way. But this is also interesting; the ways we represent ourselves, and how we can play with that. It’s something I want to do more of in the future. One day, I want to make a video that I score that I am in. I want to create a piece, a 15-minute or 30-minute thing. I fucking love video — you can do everything! It’s a beautiful language.

Exciting! What else can we look forward to from you?
Everything! I’m definitely working on projects. I might work on an EP remix of ONE. I’m also working on another project, there’s different things on it; more club, some soft songs as well. I’ve been a bit quiet recently but I’m definitely working on a lot of things!