Although it’s easy to think it’s all been done before, there’s something new, fresh and exciting about Lebanese duo LUMI, an electro-pop and glam punk band composed of Marc Codsi and Mayaline Hage. Their success landed them a record deal with EMI Arabia after they released a self-produced EP and led them to record their first album Two Tears in Water back in 2008. LUMI are making a comeback and we had the opportunity to interview both members and discuss their sound, the challenges they face, as well as their music inspirations.

By Laura Katrina

 

First things first, how did you guys get together?

Mayaline: We met some 14 years ago at a jam session at a mutual friend’s place. I was just visiting from Paris and contemplating the idea of moving back to Beirut. I had some music partitions with me, Marc came to me and we started talking…

 

Your work with Scrambled Eggs was very experimental. In a previous interview, you mention that Lumi was a result of a “song” approach to music. What elements of experimentation did you bring to the electro pop sound of the band?

Marc: What was great with Scrambled is the total freedom we implemented, nothing was structured, nothing was predefined, it was chaos most of the time, but a desired chaos from which an entity would emerge. It’s more a spirit than a style, and this comes from early days when I was a lot into free improvised music. Mayaline was part of that scene too, she used to perform with a mic and do weird and abstract sounds with her voice.

I always kept this affection for chaos, experimenting with sounds, and flirting with boundaries but with Lumi I tried to incorporate those elements in a more structured and melodic way.

That influence is even more present now where we have for example a few songs that are almost 10 min long.

How has your music evolved since you first began playing music together?

Mayaline:  Lumi came out initially as an ‘abrupt’ and kind of festive musical expression that was appealing to us at a certain period in a certain context.
Ten years ago was a period of great excitement in the rock and electronic scene, that excitement inspired and motivated us in that way.There was a certain form of rawness and partying and resisting energy that existed as well in the Beiruti society that we were part of. Add to that our age, the rage and powerlessness we were feeling regarding the political and security situation, the horrid and absurd 2006 war during which we felt the urge to create… all that could explain the first Lumi sound.
We then separated for a long time to meet up a year and a half or two years ago. We didnt know what to expect from our new collaboration; i think we didn’t even expect to collaborate again, but we did. It’s like we were both in parallel tunnels and we met at the end somehow. After a few months of fumbling, the music started coming to us. What we wanted to express became more and more clear, as well as the way we’d chosen to express it. The beauty of it is that without communicating for years we met up again with a clear content to be told.

Marc: It continuously evolved. The first phase was pretty experimental and lo fi, then it got more pop by the time our full length album came out; I was influenced by the 60’s production pop music that I found unrivaled. Today I think we went back to something more intimate and more urgent, the world is changing very fast, and it’s becoming harder to fit in it.

Rock is deeply rooted in the pop sounds of LUMI.  What music elements are you yet to explore and what do you have your eyes on for future?

Mayaline: Well the nature of our current project gives us yet a large margin of exploration, our first upcoming gigs will allow us to test our sound in action and continue to evolving it. Even though we already have an album material, we’re still composing and are eager to explore and continue pushing boundaries. You have to keep it alive! 🙂

Can you name 3 artists that mainly influenced the LUMI sound?

Mayaline & Marc: Sonic youth, David lynch and Leo ferre

What has been your biggest challenge as a band? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?

Mayaline & Marc: Lately the big challenge, and it was an intentional one that we have put as the basis of our work was: how to create and play music live, being just us two, without the assistance of any playback device, computer or other musicians and without letting those choices limit the music itself. This made us push many boundaries and demanded a lot of sustained work. The result of that work is what we are presenting live now.

Lumi1

You grew up in Lebanon. Do you think growing up in a country with so many contradictions affected the way you write? 

Mayaline: Of course, and for obvious reasons. It was maybe particularly true and obvious in 2006-2008.

And it’s certainly present at a deep level in each one of us as well as in our daily lives. But today I personally tend to create a space for creation, and inner space, and I can watch how it interacts with the outside world and do songs about it.  But I’d like to think our music is not just the result of us being Lebanese or living in Beirut or whatever. There’s definitely much more to it.

Marc: For my part, I feel there is a chaos around us, that transmitted in all I do. When something is too clean, it doesn’t feel right. There is also this element of layers,  nothing is what it looks like, if you dig a bit you ll find something else behind it.

What was the first album/E.P you bought?

Mayaline: Maybe a Metallica, Slayer or Gun’s and Roses tape 🙂

Marc: Bad by Michael Jackson (I actually stole it so maybe it doesn’t count)

Revolver is obsessed with lists, and more recently with album suggestions. Can you give us the top 5 Albums You Grew Up Listening To?

Mayaline: Well From 9 to 13 years old I was mainly listening to Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirits and In Utero, Pearl jam’s Ten, Guns and Roses’ Use Your Illusion 1 and Metallica. Then at the age of 13, I discovered Janis Joplin and Jacques Brel …Later on ( 16-17 years old ) Sonic Youth, Radiohead, Portishead’s Glory Box, Placebo’s two first albums….

Marc: I’m a late comer when it comes to music, when I first started to actually listen to music not just hear it, the ones who got the most plays were:

– Velvet Underground – Velvet Underground.

– The Beatles – Abbey Road.

– Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon.

 

You have toured in Lebanon, France, Germany and in the UK, can you share the most memorable moment from this experience?

Mayaline: We had so many great moment.. Our first gigs in Paris, it was touching to play there as I lived in France half of my life..  A  big part of me is still there.. Also our whole German experience, several gigs in Berlin with our drummer and bassist at the time, we really felt we were part of this city for a few days. I would also add The madame Jojo’s experience in London, which was really fun as well and the production of our album in Dusseldorf where we lived at Mouse on Mars Andy Thomas for a month.

Marc: Missing the plane to get to SONAR in Barcelona.

The alternative scene in Beirut has changed a lot since Lumi’s beginning. How do you see the future of the scene? Are you a fan of any particular acts in particular?

Mayaline: The scene definitely flourished! I think it’s great, I’m happy to see that the music and art in general found such a fertile place in my hometown. I hope it’ll distract me from the many issues that deeply sadden me about the Lebanese society.

Marc: Indeed, it evolved a lot from the early days. I feel I talk like a veteran now. Things are much easier today, there is a whole bunch of promoters, managers, sponsors, bookers, venues, photographers, designers, festivals etc. The result is that there is an abundance of acts out there, all very talented, but I feel there is less adventurism and activism today than there was with the first generation. We live in such a crazy schizophrenic place, I’d love to see more of that madness in the music.

What advice do you have for people who want to form their own band?

Mayaline: Open up, explore, listen, dream, dare, work a lot, and stay humble.

Marc: Don’t listen to your mom.

What’s next for LUMI?

Mayaline: Time will tell.

Marc: A first big test with our first concert on Thursday, then others will follow.
A summer to contemplate the idea of recording an album, all the material is there, then a tour in Europe in the fall.

 

 

About author: Laura is a 20 year old computer science and applied mathematics student based in Paris. Being fond of photography, she started a personal photo blog in 2014 where she shares pictures from her travels and her random thoughts on things – a visual diary of some sort.

Bernie
Bernie

Bernie was stuck in the 1960s when an epiphanic guitar hit him in the head. He woke up realizing there’s more to life than amazing rock’n’roll, so he founded Revolver. He loves digging for stories and writing investigative pieces only he'll enjoy reading. He also just realized he loves illeism.

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5 Responses

  1. Avatar
    Zad Tourmoche (The Sea-Ders - Lebanon 1960-1967)

    Just got up. Had my coffee, and clicked on ‘projectrevolver’ Blog. Saw this article about LUMI, READ A FEW PARAS, and thought to myself: “This is interesting”, but I must wake up, first, then search on YouTube for LUMI’s music in order to complete the picture that I had come to form about this INTERESTING DUO. I say ‘interesting’, because their story appears to speak of artists’ courage for exploring the uncharted world of music where anything and everything can befall a new band; i.e Instant success, prolonged struggle to reach success, and a claim to fame without too many tears and heartache. Nevertheless, an Artist’s History devoid of pain, heartache, struggle, determination, perseverance, and self-confidence to overcome all hurdles, would not find a place in the Music History Book, but rather, and if lucky, be mentioned fleetingly in three or four short lines in a Tabloid. I feel LUMI is something else altogether, and this is a gut feeling. However, as I am a great believer in the ‘have-a-gut-feeling’ syndrome (lol), I think I will do my further Research on this Duo, and will definitely come back to this page to add a further comment/s. In the meantime, they sounded sincere through their answers to each question, and that’s what drew my attention and interest in my desire to find out more about them. GOOD LUCK. And thanks LAURA for this illuminating article. RESPECT.

    • Avatar
      Adminrevolver

      Always a pleasure to hear from you Zad! Brings a smile to our face that you’re still visiting the website 🙂

  2. Avatar
    Zad Tourmoche

    I AM BACK. Today is Monday 11th May 2015. As promised, I have searched for LUMI’s vids on YouTube and came up with TWO of their songs: ‘Don’t Fuck With My Cat’ and ‘Taste Of Life’, both of which videos I enjoyed watching as they gave me a virtual path to the musical soul of this DUO. First, let me say that I ALSO FOUND AN AMERICAN RAP-DUO by the name of ‘Lumi’, I think Marc and Mayaline ought to check this out, in order to avoid any future Name-copying problems.
    Now, get yourself a cup of coffee as this is going to be a long comment about LUMI, and in order to help myself make a thorough assessment, I thought I would divide the comment into THREE headings:
    1. The DUO. 2. Their Music. 3. Their Potential.
    1. The Duo consists of two creative people whose musical image reflects their genuine and natural instinct and talent. Their Stage Presence/Video Presence ( I should say) flows with the music harmoniously and rhythmically with the fluidity of mountain spring water. This is a significant indication of Artists’ feeling their music rather than being elegantly and playfully flirting with the camera to feed their ego. Maybe I should expand on these ‘ego’ and ‘flirting’ ideas. As an example, when artists are endowed with good looks and the camera loves them, they tend to lose their inner musical soul, and parade which ever parts of their body would seem attractive to the viewer. Here, I cannot but mention artists, be it Lebanese or International, like Nancy Ajram, Haifa, Minogue, etc, where they play on their ‘sexuality’ rather than ‘musicality’ more often than not. I have no qualms about or with Artists flaunting what Mother Nature has endowed upon them, it’s a free world, but what I am trying to say is that I hold the view that TRUE, ENDURIING, and DYNAMIC MUSICAL ARTISTRY IS A COMBINATION OF HUMAN FACETS THAT ENCOMPASS TRAGEDY, JOY, SADNESS, DRAMA, STORY-TELLING, SPIRITUAL-ELEVATION, EXPOSITION OF THE MOST INNER THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS, AND ABSTRACT REFLECTIONS OF THE INTANGIBLE, (the list is endless), in a natural and sincere way, thus eliminating the poisonous human facets of PRETENCIOUSNESS, NEGATIVE SELF-INDULGENCE, SELF-GLORIFICATION, AND NARCISSISM, all of which facets can end up destroying Artists rather than help them evolve into PROPHETIC MUSICAL MESSANGERS; i.e Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Bee Gees, to name a few. What prompted me to write all the above is my derived sense of APPRECIATION that the DUO have managed to write and perform music in a UNIVERSAL SPIRIT which can be appreciated by audiences of all the varied cultures round the world. Their total engagement with the concept of CHAOS, makes me think of EDWARD NORTON LOREZ, the Father Of Chaos Theory and his theory about the BUTTERFLY EFFECT. Basically, and explained simply, every aspect, little or great, of action, feeling and thinking, whilst at first is perceived as CHAOS, it, nevertheless, has a VERY SEIOUS INFLUENCE & EFFECTS on other future events, hence why, I do not consider the tem ‘CHAOS’ as a lamentable state of loss of direction or missing the target in the end. On the contrary, each whisper, action, motion, feeling, thinking becomes an integral part of a latent-whole. The SECRET is to DIVE into the SEA OF CHAOS without FEAR or HESITATION, for the beauty of the UNKNOWN is in its beholding of the UNPREDICATBLE. which is AN INTRINSIC PILLAR OF CREATIVITY. Hence, in the field of music creation there lies the dividing line between banality and creativity. This DUO fall into the category of CREATIVITY and their potential is in the BUTTERFLY EFFECT.
    2. Their music, judging by the two songs I heard in the videos, had a fluid structure which was exemplified by the quality of melodic and singing attributes. Both songs were flawlessly sang with a dynamic and contemporary musical arrangement and instrumentation. Their quality of writing has put them on par with David Guetta, AVICII, to name a few. I was very IMPRESSED that as a Lebanese band they never fell into the trap of ‘banality’ in the melodic structure of their songs. BRILLIANT, I thought. Now, as the Duo spoke in their interview about the influences of Lebanese culture upon young Artists, I find myself agreeing with them, for Lebanese Culture consists of many contradictions and at times is SEVERELY OPPRESSIVE in intellectual and musical terms. But I was glad to see this Duo leaping away from the limitation of Lebanese Culture and joyfully and easily landing in a UNIVERSAL CULTURE domain. I am certain that serious budget restraints inevitably has had its effect on their Video Production. For example, their songs: ‘TASTE OF LIFE’ and ‘DON’T FUCK WITH MY CAT’ are brilliant, imaginative, and contemporary songs with a melodic and rhythmic structures that can stand shoulder to shoulder with any of David Guetta’s or AVICCI’s songs , and I could easily imagine an expensive Dance Routine choreographed by some great choreographer to compliment these songs in a huge production such as the ones produced by Lady Gaga, but then again, I got to be realistic because I have no doubt that the cheapest Lady Gaga video must cost about a $1 million US DOLLARS, not to mention the great number of Production Talents that make any Gaga Video a master piece. However, these videos are a testimony to this Duo’s ability to manage still good videos on a tiny budget. I am sure they know what to do if high-budget video production was offered to them. No doubt about it.
    3. The Potential for this Duo can be measured by the extent of their dedication to their work and their astute and imaginative exploration of the ‘CHAOS’ theory in their music creation. From their replies to the Questions in the Interview, I sensed that they knew where they were, what they did when they were separated, and are confident of the things they are now doing as a consequence of their re-emergence onto the music scene. Musically, they are MATURE, as I gathered from hearing their two songs, and their CREATIVITY will no doubt blossom as they possess most of the ingredients that drive an artist to explore uncharted grounds. So long as they remain loyal to their inner most feelings about what MUSIC is, they will be able to venture into a higher level of music creation propelled by genuine spiritual exploration of their human spirit. A State of Nirvana is reached when human endeavour is measured by the authenticity of human trials and not by how many $ their endeavour had accumulated in their Bank Account. The ‘Butterfly Effect’ was never measured by the $. GOOD LUCK.
    N.B: Sorry Revolver Admin, I can only write extensively when something hits me like a Tsunami. Please don’t ask me why I feel like this. Suffice to say I believe in the BUTTERFLY EFFECTS Theory. HAHAHAHAHA.

    • Avatar
      Adminrevolver

      Zad, always a pleasure to hear your (lengthy) replies!

      You should consider contributing to Revolver with your own blog posts, instead of just writing in the comment section 🙂

  3. Avatar
    Zad Tourmoche

    HAHAHAHA. Thanks. But, ya Admin, ya 7ayate, each one of us is endowed with some skills, but it takes a greater effort to dedicate so much time, as you do, to maintain a dynamic Blog such as Revolver. I only get excited about the odd one or two, or three, or ten great acts that prompt me to write about them. So, mon chapeau a vous.