French shoegaze project dive and drown
Laurent Guerrier is the person behind French shoegaze project dive and drown. I came into contact with Laurent by way of Lunation Fall, another French shoegaze band, after their appearance on the blank mood blog earlier this year. Laurent's numerous music projects date back to the early 90s and cover a range of styles and experimentations. Plus, he hosts a radio programme for a local station. You'll hear dive and drown and Laurent's "experimental ambient alter-ego" Liquid Sphere in episode 12 of _____ mood. so I asked Laurent a few questions about his work.
Tell us about dive and drown
dive and drown is a project I started working on in early 2020, when I decided to get a guitar for the first time ever, after many years - decades actually - making music by myself or in bands using a drum kit, a bass guitar and various electronic devices and computers. Originally dive and drown was supposed to be an attempt at creating instrumental music influenced by the likes of Cocteau Twins and Slowdive.
Is there a story about the song "Another Life"?
After awhile I started trying to add vocals, but I often have a hard time coming up with something I deem suitable. Hence songs like “Another Life”, a track I started in October 2022 and completed nine months later, after laying four different guitar lines - and none of the vocal takes I had recorded. Back to square one… but I’m pleased with the result.
I love the bass and drums in "Another Life". Maybe someday you will release a remix with the vocals?
Maybe one day.
Also in episode 12 of _____ mood. is something else you've created - "doomed underground resistance" by Liquid Sphere. You've described Liquid Sphere as a sort of "experimental ambient alter-ego" - was Liquid Sphere a project you had been working on before dive and drown?
Liquid Sphere is a project I started in 1994. I put it to rest around 2010, but I resumed it when one of the labels that had released a Liquid Sphere CD in 2002 asked me for a track for a compilation (three years ago). Since then it has become a collaborative project with a clarinet player Bruno Verneret, with whom I’d like to try and perform live. We have two tracks to be released on digital compilations in the next few weeks for two different labels.
You also host a radio programme, the Shortcuts Radio Show. It looks like you play quite an eclectic mix of ambient, experimental, dub, post-punk, shoegaze and more. What do you like about doing a radio show?
I decided to start this radio show to perhaps help some music lovers discover artists that they may not know about, artists that I think deserve to be better-known. I love going through my music collection (CDs, vinyl records and digital files), so even though preparing a show is, as you know well, very time consuming - it is a very enjoyable hobby!
Where can we find your upcoming releases?
All of my releases - whether they're by dive and drown, Liquid Sphere or other side-projects - are available on my Bandcamp pages.
Do you have a favourite album from this year (2023)?
Hmm... This is a difficult one as these days I tend to mostly listen to old stuff and not pay attention to new releases - even by artists I like. And I won't be able to name only one... so, let's see... first I've quite liked believe anything, believe everything by EXIT ELECTRONICS (bleak/harsh electronic music by Justin Broadrick - his other bands/projects are Jesu, Godflesh, Final, Techno Animal, ...), as well as In Electric Time by Jeremiah Chiu, soft experimental electronic music. Have a listen to the last track, and it will probably make you want to like the whole record! And as far as shoegaze is concerned, I've really enjoyed There's A Place I Can Rest by cursetheknife and Big Sonic Chill by Sparkler.