Sweet Beliefs: Cyann & Ben

Parisian four piece Cyann & Ben are due to release their EP ‘Sunny Morning’ from their third album ‘Sweet Beliefs’ (tentatively set for release this September), and so crossing continents Gigwise got the lowdown from Charlie and Ben.

“Cyann & Ben were formed in Charleville-Mézières, in the north-east of France five years ago,” begins Charlie “from a duet, the band became a four piece and we moved to Paris”. Now the full line up consists of Cyann (vocals and keyboards), Ben (vocals and guitars), Loïc (guitars and keyboards) and Charlie (percussions, samples and synth).  After such an introduction to the members, the question ‘where does the band’s name come from?’ has a seemingly obvious answer, as Charlie explains; “The name came from those early weeks of the band. The duet constituted of Cyann and Ben, so it seemed natural to use their names. We decided to keep the name, even when Loïc and I joined the band”. Surely that cuts out Charile and Loïc? because the name suggests a two piece “I think the name hides the inner workings of the band” Ben replies. “Sure, Cyann and I write the basics of the tracks, but our songs are composed by four people”.

Speaking of tracks, Gigwise asks Charlie to sum up ‘Sunny Morning’, describe it in five words. Charlie: “Wide, Human, Psychedelic, Noisy, Lyrical”. And Ben “Lunatic, Sweet, Wild, Sugar, Space”. And in Gigwise’s (we get more), it’s a sublime trip with gentle sounds reminiscent of those that typified the 60’s and it is perfect for a fresh, bright ‘Sunny Morning’. “There are so many influences …” says Charlie “within the band we don’t necessarily listen to the same music, and when composing we try to never say, ‘Let’s write a song in the style of X or Y’. It’s more like alchemy.  Each one of us brings our own elements. During the composition and recording of ‘Sweet Beliefs’, we were maybe listening to Yo La Tengo and Sonic Youth for the noisy feedback guitars, Blonde Redhead and Can for the drums patterns, Spectrum and Pink Floyd for the vintage synth moods!  It’s hard to pinpoint a couple of names, because when you start to name one band, a lot of others come to mind.”

Gigwise: Touching on the Pink Floyd element in the music, if this was the 1960’s who would you be in the world of music? “Well, that’s a good question” Charlie continues “as far as I’m concerned; my 60’s heroes were Robert Wyatt and Syd Barrett. Wyatt’s music and career fascinates me. As a drummer, as a singer, as a composer, he is still one of the best, even today! I think that Cyann would probably say Pink Floyd, because they remain her favourite bands. Loïc and Ben would probably fight to be George Harrison or Brian Wilson. Then Ben pipes up- “That’s funny the way that Charlie imagines me… (Have we touched a nerve?!) but he’s not totally wrong. I prefer Neil Young’s personality. He seemed lost, but so sure of what he wanted to make of his music- where he wanted to drive it without any perturbations”.