Q&A: Lewis OfMan Catches Us Up on Album ‘Sonic Poems,’ Life on Tour & Working With Carly Rae Jepsen
WITH RARE ECCENTRICITY — Lewis OfMan has made his mark on the dance-pop scene with his debut album, Sonic Poems, released this February. The 18-track album is an ode to nightlife and the French musician’s penchant for a good fête, sprinkled with global influences and distant memories from his everyday life. OfMan co-produced his album with Tim Goldsworthy (LCD Soundsystem, Massive Attack), and it also features voice notes from friends and past and present lovers.
The 24-year-old has kept busy since the album’s release, including soundtracking Versace’s FW ’22 fashion show with an endorsement from Donatella Versace herself. OfMan also caught the eye of pop star Carly Rae Jepsen, and they connected early on during the pandemic for virtual songwriting sessions.
“A friend sent me a playlist and I kept pausing at the same track of Lewis’ thinking, ‘This is really good,’” Jepsen said of her first impressions of OfMan in a press release. “Lewis has really been the silver lining of my last two years when touring wasn’t possible and travel was just a dream. On top of that, he has one of my favorite male voices.”
One of OfMan’s nights out and a session with Jepsen led to their dreamy dance duet, “Move Me.”
To top it all off, he just wrapped up his North American headlining tour in September with a sold out show at The Roxy in Los Angeles, and he’s going back on the road in Europe as a support act for Jepsen on her So Nice Tour early next year.
Keep reading to learn more about OfMan’s process, how he created the Sonic Poems album art, and his aspirations for the future.
LUNA: How has this fall season been treating you?
OFMAN: The fall season is wild for me right now. I just came back from LA for the North American tour and I found myself in Lisbon in Portugal. In America I lost my two synths — that was fucked up — but then apparently they found them. I managed to do a show in Lisbon with some rented synths and it sounded actually quite nice, and the show was insane. Then I went back to Paris to get a little rest, I mean, a few hours, because I needed to go to play at La Rochelle, which is a city in France, and still no news of my synths. So we just rented some other ones and the show was really great as well. Really nice! Also, I’m taking a lot of melatonin to sleep, so basically during those few days I was sleeping from 4–8 p.m. every day — really nice in addition to the night sleeping so I can recover. And right now I’m preparing myself for two weeks of non-stop around Europe. So the fall season is treating me nicely and with brutality, and I hope I will not burn out. I don’t think [so] because I know how to relax.
LUNA: You’ve just wrapped up your debut North American tour and I’m sure it was lovely. Can you share a favorite moment from touring and getting to perform live?
OFMAN: I really really enjoyed having a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich at the airport each morning before we were going to the [new] cities. But this bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich at the airport I have to say, wow, so nice! But the best performance was definitely LA. It was amazing; it was just a wild show. It was romantic, it was intense, the crowd was really nice, really cool. Wow! And also, The Roxy was kind of important for me because I played there in 2018 with Rejjie Snow — I was opening for him there. It was already a great show back in this time, the fact [I get to] come back here a few years later and play my own show, sold out. I mean, come on, that was insane.
LUNA: The most recent single we’ve heard from you, “Move Me,” features Carly Rae Jepsen and is an incredible song — how did this collaboration come about?
OFMAN: (Laughs) Well, Carly Rae Jepsen apparently heard my music from someone from her family that showed her my songs. I believe it was “Je pense à toi,” and she really liked it. She decided to work with me for her upcoming album, so this was like 2020-ish. We had this FaceTime — that was kind of surreal for me, you know, having a FaceTime with Carly Rae Jepsen… like, wow! And we really vibed quite fast, and we started doing these Zoom sessions. We eventually did some really nice tracks. I was living in Florence at one point, and after a really interesting night I had, the day after I wrote “Move Me.” We were doing basically a session a week with Carly, so it almost became a diary thing. We would exchange our private life and stuff, and it was really nice. At some point, I’m sharing that night with Carly and I’m like, “Hey, you know, I had this moment and I wrote this song ‘Move Me.’ What do you think about this?” She was like, “Lewis, it’s so beautiful. Let’s do a duet with this track.” I was like, “Wow, that’s a really nice idea. You’re right, let’s do this!” And she just recorded her voice and sent it to me. I was like, “Bam! Okay, that’s insane.” Actually, I’ve tried to re-record my voice in a proper studio because Carly’s voice was high quality and mine was shit, but the session I had in the studio trying to redo the voice was a nightmare, and so I had to keep my old voice with a shitty mic. So what you hear on this Carly Rae Jepsen feature is my voice on a shitty mic. Isn’t it cool?
LUNA: What role has working with others played in the upcoming album?
OFMAN: The album was made working with Tim Goldsworthy, the co-founder of DFA Records [from the] early 2000s. He’s also the one that co-produced the first LCD Soundsystem album, and he also worked with some iconic groups like The Rapture. And I was like, “I’m not gonna work with a producer on my album — I’m a producer,” but then as I found myself in the studio with him, he was just throwing some great beat samples. He was looking at me like, “Hey, what are you waiting for?” And Bruno, my sound engineer, was recording everything, and I would play some stuff and some riffs and melodies just came out of it. I had no choice because otherwise nothing would be done. This is how “Such a good day,” “Energized,” “Fuck You,” “S.O.S,” “Sorry Not Sorry,” “Toxic Night,” “Love Parade”... all those things that really set the backbone of the album were made there, so before this I was just lost. Before this, I had a few interesting things, and thanks to the team it was like the perfect collage of things l liked shared with things I am.
LUNA: Sonic Poems seems to be so much more than just your average album and instead a vocal diary of sorts. Sonically, what were some key inspirations for this one? What led to this approach and overall creative process?
OFMAN: Life! (Laughs) No, but most of the tracks from the album are inspired by scenes from my life. When I make a track, I would have some scene of life, some flashback, and I would try to make them in the music. Funny moments I had in Italy when I was living in Florence, funny and interesting Paris moments, love moments, funny parties… you can put these memories and go into it to make something. For example, if you take “Regarde moi,” which is one of the only tracks I sing in French on the album, basically I was coming back to Paris from a few days in Florence and I was so sad to be back in Paris because these days in Florence were so amazing. I had a moment with this lady where we really looked each other in the eyes for a long time, and this cracked me up! It was crazy. To look at someone’s eyes, it’s like a Bluetooth connection, really strong. And I was sitting with my keyboard, sad, in my studio and I was like, “How can I get back to this moment?” Well, make a track about it!” (Laughs) This track is always getting me back to this one second out of eternity. These are the major inspirations. I could tell you some artists [I’m inspired by], but to be honest I don’t remember this because these days I’m trapped in reggae music, and all this reggae music is making me forget everything.
LUNA: You had the incredible opportunity to work with Versace and have your music featured for Fashion Week. Outside of the music itself, what are some of your favorite elements to explore and tie into your music?
OFMAN: Life, once again. I’m always open to extraordinary moments. I just want to live extraordinary moments. This is giving me my kick of life. I need to meet people that are crazy and insane, and I’m scanning them. I’m like, “Okay, wow!” And I’m getting inspired by those people, [who] are really living surrealist lives. This is my kick: being in this pickup with my two friends that I barely know, who just picked me up in front of The Roxy after my show and they’re taking me somewhere I don't know. All of these elements are the things that inspire me a lot. Or even waking up really late because my alarm didn’t ring, and you wake up at 8-something for a plane at 10 in LAX, and this is your plane to go back to Europe, and you’re hungover and have to pack everything, you take a shower, you order an Uber, and your Uber [driver] is mad and you have to run — this is my kick. I love this; I love situations.
LUNA: As you start to prepare for your tour next year with Carly Rae Jepsen, how do you hope to see your live performance evolve from the most recent tour?
OFMAN: Well, Luna Collective, you’re raising a stressing question right now! I’m currently brainstorming about it, and I’m stressed because my next song that I’m doing right now is a total shift from tour life, which means it’s not dance tracks. It’s nostalgic, contemplative, dreamy, folky tracks. I just made this track because I need some peace in my head, so I don’t really know how I can do this live. Also because my current tour is really banging around in my head. I'm playing loud bass music with “Attitude,” and it’s hard to imagine how I can mix the whole thing, but that’s a challenge, and I hope I will succeed.
LUNA: Can you share any insight into any visuals that will be accompanying Sonic Poems?
OFMAN: Well, you’re raising another stressful question, Luna Collective! I have to say, I’m really struggling with visuals. I mean, not pictures — I love pictures. I’m a fan of the Sonic Poems artwork — that was a whole adventure. Once again, it was last minute because I was kind of totally uninspired of what I can do, and I was like, “Okay, you know what? I have no choice, I have to do this myself.” One day I was like, I just want a canvas with Sonic Poems written on it in a flashy pink paint. Funny enough, I have a canvas shop close to my place. I buy three canvases, pink spray paint, and go back to my apartment. My apartment in Paris is really small, it’s a little box — I compare it to a Nike shoebox. I have to empty my furniture into the kitchen on the other side, and I put all the canvas on craft paper to not fuck up the place. I do the first canvas, I fuck it up. I do a second one, not so nice. Third one, not so nice at all. I’m intoxicated, it’s a mess, and those canvases were expensive. I was like, “Fuck, I’m not happy with the results! The whole place smells like paint! What am I doing? It’s a mess!” I go back to the shop and buy three more, and one of the three was smaller than the other ones because they were running out of stock. I bring them back and I start again. Bam! The fourth one… interesting. Fifth one, nice! And the last one was the smaller one, and I do it… and it’s the one! I remember I fucked up the “C” in sonic, but it’s nice. And it’s the one you see on the album [cover], that’s the one that made it. Wow. But yeah, regarding visuals, we made a few videos, but I want to make a last one. It would be for such a good day. I want to work on this and do it good.
LUNA: If you could only listen to three albums for the rest of your life, who are you listening to?
OFMAN: Well, hopefully for me I’m sitting in front of my vinyls. So the first answer would be, Amoroso by João Gilberto. Second album would be Gate of Dreams by the Claus Ogerman Orchestra, which is actually the same person that arranged Amoroso. And the third album would be What’s Going On by Marvin Gaye. And honestly, I would be really satisfied.
LUNA: What intentions do you have for the rest of the year?
OFMAN: Well, I don’t know, I’m just touring, I guess! But my intention would definitely be to play at Coachella, right? (Laughs) And maybe do a show in Hawaii. I was having a meeting yesterday with my booker agent, and I was like, “Guys, I want to play in Seoul, I want to play in Tokyo. Please make it happen.” So these are my intentions.
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