07 Déc INTERVIEW — CIEL : « We really want to keep our music raw and genuine »

Just at the end of their European tour opening for Blood Red Shoes, we met with CIEL, the new band from Brighton you need to listen to!

SOB : How did you meet? 

Michelle : I’m Michelle, I’m from The Netherlands. I moved to Brighton about 5 years ago and that’s how I met Jorge. I wrote songs under the name CIEL already in The Netherlands and I was looking for musicians. I lived in Brighton a long time ago and I was like “I need to move there” . I lived in a really small town in The Netherlands and it was easier in Brighton to find similar people. I met Jorge on holidays and that’s when CIEL, the UK version started. 

Jorge : I’m Jorge, I’m from Madrid and I play guitar in CIEL. Michelle came around for a week, I was living there for 7 years already, I’ve been there for 10. She put some demos on Facebook so I contacted her and we met. We had band practice with some people that don’t play in the band anymore and it felt really exciting. She then moved and when we started looking for a drummer, I met Tim because he was giving flyers outside venues, so I asked him to join. 

Tim : Yeah, I live very close so I was always in Brighton. I played in different bands and then joined CIEL. 

Michelle : It was weird at first because we couldn’t play live with him for like a year. There was no rehearsal space, no drums, we had a weird start. 

SOB : Michelle, you used to write everything yourself, how is it now? 

Jorge : Last year we put the first EP as the three of us, it was the first time we played as a band. Then, a combination of demos from Michelle back in the days combined with new ideas and some new ideas we put together with Steven from Blood Red Shoes, who produced this EP. We didn’t take too long before recording to not overthink and not overdo. There was a lot of “in the moment” ideas and we continue that formula for the moment. We try to keep them raw and down to the essence of how they first were. 

SOB : Are you already working on an album? 

Michelle : There are always lots of ideas on the table but we don’t have a plan for it yet. We had lots of EPs coming out this year, so there are already a lot of songs coming out this year. We have a lot more work. We had an European tour with Blood Red Shoes, then a UK tour with Pale Blue Eyes and then we’ll have our first headline tour in Europe in February and then the UK. 

SOB : What do you want to share with people through your music? 

Jorge : We got together because we had really similar tastes, and we also wanted to perform and write the same kind of music. I’m truly playing the music that I always wanted to do. In the past, maybe I had to adapt to other people, but in this project, I’m where I’m supposed to be. 

Tim : I think it comes out naturally as well, it doesn’t feel forced stylistically. 

Michelle : In the past, we tried to shape ideas but now we really want to keep it raw and genuine. 

Jorge : We start to know what we can and we cannot do, and we start to feel comfortable with what we can each bring. 

SOB : What are your influences? 

Michelle : The Breeders, Blonde Redhead, Just Mustard,… 

Jorge : Whenever we are close to writing music, I actually don’t listen to music because I don’t want to get too attached to something and then subconsciously do something similar. 

Tim : Same, I don’t like to compare, but I don’t naturally think about other styles. 

Jorge : But I was gonna mention the band Ditz, I think people know them now ! There are so many good bands from Brighton at the moment ! Genuinely, we love France, and our show at Supersonic is the best thing that happened to me so we are really excited to come back next year !

[PHOTOS] CIEL @ Point Éphémère, 7 octobre 2023, Paris

[PHOTOS] Ditz @ Petit Bain, le 4 avril 2023

[PHOTOS] Supersonic’s Block Party Festival @ Le Supersonic, Paris, du 17 au 19 mai 2023