SANDY LAVALLART KWOON

The French artist's new album, Odyssey, unexpectedly became my No. 1 of 2025. A rare and beautiful album that moves you, an album that gets inside you and that you keep listening to because it never gets boring. I spoke to Sandy Lavallart while he was working in his studio in Paris.

Sandy, I have played your latest album, Odyssey, at least ten times in a row. It is fantastic! When I had to review the album, I didn't know what to expect because I wasn't familiar with your work yet, but I have been truly blown away. Where do you get your inspiration from?

"Thank you! That inspiration is really inside me; it can just pop into my head out of nowhere. Sometimes it’s just hard work, but I am very intuitive when I make music. Odyssey has truly become a part of my life. I love traveling and am immensely inspired by landscapes, the mountains, and the sea. I write purely for myself and straight from the heart; that is where this album was born."

You are from Paris, but what about the rest of the band? Is Kwoon a solo project or do you hire musicians? “

I do indeed live in Paris and have my own studio there, but my musicians come from Alsace, close to the German border. They were already fans of Kwoon and understand my music inside out. That makes working with them incredibly enjoyable and stimulating. We perform a lot and are even going to China soon. That is going to be a truly insane and special experience. We are going to tour for ten days, playing venues of around 500 to 800 people in the big cities. I have been to China before for a festival, but now we have been approached by a promoter for a real tour. Something to really look forward to! After that, by the way, there is also a tour through Eastern Europe on the schedule."

How did you ever get started making music? 

"I started twenty years ago now. However, after the first ten years, I had to take a break, partly because the band broke up at the time for various reasons. Those kinds of things happen. I did want to continue with music, but not with Kwoon at the time. During that period, I started writing a lot of music for TV documentaries, films, and commercials. That is still my daily work. During that break, I learned an incredible amount about composition and writing for full orchestras and violins. Among other things, I got to compose the music for a BMW commercial with a full orchestra. Yes, I am quite proud of that. You can hear that knowledge reflected on the new album as well; it sometimes balances between rock and film music."

Does that influence you?

"Absolutely. I am very curious and always want to know everything. I learn a tremendous amount from film composers by listening very closely to their work and watching how they go about it."

I saw a music video in which you are sitting on top of Mont Blanc with a guitar and an amplifier. Did you climb up there yourself? "No, actually, I did that by helicopter! There is a fifty-minute documentary on YouTube where you can see me walking to the helicopter with a guide and all my gear, and flying to Mont Blanc."

You also filmed a clip in a 'haunted lighthouse'. How do you find those locations and why do you seek them out?

"Apparently, I love the danger and adventure that life brings; that is just how I am. I also seek it out consciously. I read a lot of books and watch documentaries on YouTube and television. For example, I am fascinated by shipwrecks. I’m not referring to the Titanic, but to the story of fishermen who set sail with the big question of whether they will return alive. That inspires me. Similarly, I love Lanzarote immensely. The landscape there is like being on Mars. I’ve been there four or five times by now. There is not a trace of greenery to be seen; it is a completely burnt volcanic landscape. Beautiful."

You do extraordinary things quite often. Besides Mont Blanc and the lighthouse, you even sent a guitar into space. How do you come up with an idea like that?

"That was a truly bizarre and amazing experience! We equipped a guitar with GPS trackers and a camera, attached it to a weather balloon, and sent it up into the air. The whole adventure can be followed on YouTube. The guitar eventually flew 250 kilometers and landed by parachute in a meadow. Thanks to the GPS trackers, we were able to track it. We did have to drive there quickly, though, because naturally we didn't want anyone else to take it. But we succeeded: it is now hanging on the wall here in my studio."

Did you actually have any formal musical training? After all, you write and arrange an awful lot.

"No, I didn't go to a conservatory or music school. My method is simple: I watch, listen, and observe, and then it comes naturally. If you watch a film and really listen, you hear how the music is structured. It’s just inside me. Through years of listening and watching very intensively, I have shaped myself and can now make a career out of it. In my studio, I try to understand how other composers work and apply that to my own music. I work with many digital plug-ins for orchestrations. That way, I can create exactly what I have in my head. I can spend hours testing what sounds best and how I can make it even more interesting. It is a matter of mixing: taking a basic recipe, adding a little of this and a little of that, and seasoning it to taste. And sometimes I get lucky, it suddenly sounds perfect, and it is exactly what I had in mind.”