In-residency adventures with Serguei Spoutnik

Picture by Reykjavík Music City

In the beginning of November we had the great opportunity to have the very talented Serguei Spoutnik from France stay with us in the haus as an artist-in-residence. We all had the most inspiring time and Damien with his beautiful synth tunes will be greatly missed over here. Here’s a little look back at the precious time.

Hi Damien and thank you for all the great moments here in the haus! For those who did not get to know you, could you tell a bit about yourself and what you do?

I’m Damien Lecoq, my artist name is Serguei Spoutnik, I’m 35 years old and I come from Le Mans, a city in the west of France.

Serguei Spoutnik was initially a graphic design project and I notably produced 3D music videos for the French electronic music producer Apollo Noir (http://sergueispoutnik.com).

As a musician, I had a band, that was a duo, called Quadrupède (or QDRPD) and we toured a lot in the UK and Germany. But in 2020, we were all confined, we had to cancel an European tour for a new album release and for which we had worked a lot. It was a very huge frustration for me, to be locked down without touring. And I found refuge in something a little strange…

A few months before the lockdown I found a big list of non- protected IP of security cameras that I archived at this time and when I came back during the lock down to these cameras that were everywhere in the world, I found these kind of empty scenes that were very inspiring for me.

I was looking at these cameras all day long, day after day and I recorded hours of them, I was fascinated. It was at that moment that I decided to compose little soundtracks that went with these videos and they were the beginning of Serguei Spoutnik in music (https://youtu.be/a5e3o5q3iOI?si=J39SOr80hcXrVmez). Finally, Apollo Noir convinced me to release these tracks on his label that is called Santé Records in 2021 (https://sergueispoutnik.bandcamp.com/).

We are curious to know more about your residency project and how it went!

I was here for a cross-residency between Reykjavik and the city of Nantes, a town that is in the same region as Le Mans and that is organized by Reykjavik Music City and founded by the embassy of France, The French Alliance, and many more partners. As I said it’s a cross residency, and the Icelandic musician Sunna Margrét did her residency in France last September where we had a show together for the Scopitone festival and organized by Trempolino that is maybe the equivalent of Reykjavik Music City but in Nantes. 

For these 3 weeks, the idea of my project was to produce 7 songs, in 7 different days, with 7 different synthesizers of 7 different artists. I wanted to capture the pleasure of discovering a new synthesizer. In exchange, I lent them a small camcorder that I brought with me.

What was your favorite thing about being part of Hafnar.haus?

I had my studio at the 5th floor of Hafnar.haus. It was an awesome place for me, with an amazing view. I found that the greatness of the artist community, in its number, its diversity, its talents in HH gave me immediately a feeling of power and gave me a lot of artistic energy which pushes to honor my own presence here, it gave confidence and hope in my artistic practice.

My project was based on the meeting of 7 musicians. It was so easy in HH to organize all of this and to find the participants because there is a real community here. Everyone was so welcoming, helpful, accommodating, everything seemed very simple to me and I was therefore able to have a lot of fun and have a blast in my practice.

The technical conditions, the lunch meals in the wasabi room, the very central position in the city make this artistic space an extremely lively place and I have rarely seen so much life in this kind place.

Name the coolest thing about Iceland:

When I returned to France, the first minutes spent in the airport, the train station and on public transport made me understand one thing: in Iceland, people show off muuuuuuuch less than in France! And I have to say that I really, really love this aspect.

…and the strangest thing about Iceland:

How is it possible to have so many artists working for such a small population?! It’s really, really amazing!

What’s your secret for getting into the inspired mood?

I need to define a framework. Then, it allows me to enter into a form of obsession. It seems very imprisoning like that, but it's what allows me to feel free to wander and believe in something that doesn't yet exist!

How did your love for synths begin?

My big sister wanted to make music. My parents bought him a Hohner D98 organ. But she quickly gave up and it became a huge piece of furniture in the living room for a long time. Until the day (maybe around 10 years old) I started playing it for fun and it quickly became a passion!

A fun fact about you:

One day when I was a teenager, there was lightning at my parents' house and the Hohner organ burned, it was dead. It was then the opportunity to take up the electric guitar and abandon the keyboards for 10 years…

Where can we listen to your music?

On my bandcamp, I released the EP on VHS but it is sold out and I’ve just released a very limited edition of tapes (less than 30 copies):

https://sergueispoutnik.bandcamp.com/

An important message to the world:

Midi flutes are underrated.