When you listen to ascendant vierge, you’re stepping into a vibrant world of music that refuses to play by traditional rules. Formed of French artist Mathilde Fernandez and Belgian producer Paul Seul, known for his visceral contributions to the hardcore scene as part of Casual Gabberz, ascendant vierge is an enigmatic duo that produces pulsating, genre-defying soundscapes.
The pair’s debut EP, “Vierge”, turned heads with its bold blend of rave, hardcore, experimental electronic, and even operatic influences. It’s a musical cocktail that’s as captivating as it is unexpected, marking the duo out as true innovators in the electronic music world.
What sets ascendant vierge apart is their knack for creating music that not only entertains but also provokes thought. With every track, they challenge our understanding of genre boundaries, encouraging listeners to embrace a more adventurous approach to music.
We delved into the minds of these avant-garde artists in an exclusive interview below:
First off, can you tell us how you both initially came together and what is the story behind your moniker ascendant vierge (translation: Virgo Rising)?
Mathilde contacted me (Paul) for a remix for her solo album, I did that quickly and we were super happy about the result, so we started to work together. On our first studio session we were working on what was about to be “Faire et refaire” and it was the end of the day and Mathilde asked me what zodiac sign I was. I am virgo and Mathilde is Virgo rising, so we renamed the file with this name ascendant vierge and it just stayed because it’s cool.
Your choice of influences has greatly shaped the genre of music you are creating. Gabber is a pretty specific, high-energy, and raw form of electronic music which comes to mind as one of these influences. Considering it has its roots firmly in the Dutch underground scene of the 90s, why did you decide to reference this sub-genre?
First, we are not doing gabber, I understand why people are easily labeling us like that because I (Paul) am from Casual Gabberz and obviously we take inspiration from hard music, rave music, 90s music so gabber is part of it. But if you really listen to all the songs we did there is maybe “petit soldat” which is actually really gabber rooted but we are also driven by many other influences.
Can you share with us the top three tracks that you credit as having helped shape the sound of ascendant vierge?
We need to go back deep in our teenage years to answer this. First, I (Mathilde) would say Nightwish, it really shaped the way I sing now, and if I have to name one song, I would say “Passion and the opera”. Then I would add: “Du Riescht so Gut” by Rammstein.
For me (Paul), It’s hard because most of the tries with techno + vocals haven’t always been really good… So for me it’s hard to name one track but if I had to I would say : 3 steps ahead – “drop it”.
Let’s talk about your newly released album, “Une Nouvelle Chance”. In terms of creative process, how do you approach making music and what does the journey from a blank canvas to a fully fleshed out album look like?
The creation of “Une Nouvelle Chance” is the continuity of the project ascendant vierge : the challenge between two people happy to make music. We blend different styles, we try to open a new chapter when creating a new song, and the creation has been like that, every song must be different from another one, from things that we have done before and I guess we finally chose 14 songs that are pretty different from one another, this album is in the rule of the album creation, it’s a journey for the person experiencing it. We never stopped doing music, we had a blueprint of what we wanted, and we wanted our fans to have what they can expect from ascendant vierge but also explore new territories.
How does your experience of living in Brussels influence the music you create?
We created the album during covid so we mostly experienced our homes but overall, Brussel is a very pressure free city, it was very relaxing and it helped us during the process.
Working as a duo can demand specific dynamics. How you handle differences in creative perspectives when producing music?
It’s quite easy between us, we do not have a lot of arguments and we hardly disagree and when we do we settle it easily. It’s a matter of trust respect and amusement.
Let’s talk about the upcoming gig at Berghain. It is a club that is known for its high intensity, hours-long sets. For anyone who hasn’t yet been to an ascendant vierge show, how would you describe it, and what kind of experience can they expect when they step into the venue?
Actually, we don’t really know what to expect as well because it is such an iconic venue. We guess it will be us melting in the Berghain’s shadow, it’s such an honor to play there.
And a fun one to wrap up – if each of you could only listen to one album for the rest of your life, which one would it be and why?
Mathilde : Double white album by the Beatles. I know it’s classic but It’s so iconic.
Paul : An album that I have been listening a lot is called new ancient strings by Toumani Diabaté with Ballaké Sissoko. It’s old music, oral tradition but when you listen to it it’s like listening to what people were listening to thousand years ago so it’s a deep feeling and I love it.
We are giving away 4x Berghain guestlist spots to see the sold-out ascendant vierge show on 14th June. For your chance to go, like/share via IG below:
