Multi-instrumental Norweigan duo Lemaitre have snuck their name onto the bill for Stereosonic this summer, bringing their ideal mix of disco-infused sounds from their Relativity EP series. Sharing an interest in house-influenced production, Ketil Jansen and Ulrik Denizou Lund got together straight after high school to start the Lemaitre project, named after Belgian physics professor Georges Lemaitre.
In four years, they have released as many EPs, with songs like this year’s ‘Continuum’earning considerable online attention and radio airplay. The feel-good nature of their music fits perfectly within a summer setting, as does their relaxed attitude despite swiftly making a global name for themselves.
“We were influenced originally by Daft Punk and Justice,” says Jansen. “Now we like to think we’ve become our own little niche in a way … We didn’t have many expectations to begin with, but we were really confident in the music we wanted to make and are really proud of it so far.”
“We’ve always made the music we wanted to make,” Lund adds. “We just find grooves and really don’t think too much about it.”
The chilled vibe of the band shows they have the utmost confidence in their music and are simply doing what they love, bouncing off influences from music they enjoy and coming out with a disco-pop sound that appeals to music fans in general.
Lemaitre’s formation came from the pair’s decision to commit to music for at least a year together to see where it went, and this early focus and drive has reaped rewards. “We decided to take a year off to do music,” Lund says. “It just went uphill from there and continued, so here we are.”
As many musicians do today, they found a following early on through social media. “We just put our music out there from the start,” explains Lund. “We had a Soundcloud page and a Facebook page to feature our music. Pretty soon we got picked up by blogs, with a lot of help from the videos that our friend Joe [Johannes Greve Muskat] makes for us, and eventually we went to number one on iTunes.”
Speaking about their career as if they just fell into it, it seems the duo best expresses themselves through the music they create together. Both sing and share duties on the various instruments, and on the electronic side of things as well.
Choosing their name also came easily to them, since they like to reference science in their music and videos. “Georges Lemaitre came up with the Big Bang Theory,” Jansen says. “So from that, science has been a recurring theme in our music and visuals.”
They will aim to produce an album in 2014 – or as soon as they have time to do so, what with hectic touring schedules and travel meaning they must balance playing shows and making new music.
“Hopefully we can make an album next year, but we will need quite some time,” Lund says. “We are working [on] some stuff now which will be finished in time for Stereosonic, so we’ll see – we might premiere a few new tracks.”
BY TOM KITSON
Lemaitre play Stereosonic with David Guetta,Calvin Harris, Armin van Buuren, Empire Of The Sun, Afrojack and more at Sydney Showground on Saturday November 30, Sunday December 1.
