Heaviness, riffs, psychedelic, science-fiction… Slift’s progressive sound is a colorful and legendary journey to the edge of kraut and stoner rock. From the many shows performed across Europe – sharing the stage with Jon Spencer, DeWolff or Mars Red Sky – to the KEXP session (December 2019 during Les Trans Musicales), the French trio launched an outstanding astral adventure.

Slift released their debut EP ‘Space Is The Key’ in June 2017 via Howlin Banana (France) and Exag’ Records (Belgium). Inspired by Alain Damasio’s sci-fi novels and Pierre Ferrero’s illustration work, ‘Space Is The Key’ is a raucous wall of sound and energy. The five nervous tracks are loaded up with fuzz mayhem and maniac beats sharp enough to knock your head off spinning with their hypnotic riffs. In September 2018, Toulouse-based outer space jammers released ‘La Planète Inexplorée’, helped by garage rock producer Lo’Spider (The Monsters, Aqua Nebula Oscillator, Magnetix) and Jim Diamond (Fleshtones, Sonics, White Stripes) from the mighty Ghetto Recorders, Detroit. The record is the result of many overnight improvised sessions, probably due to their obsession with the krautrock scene and the 70s free jazz albums. Made of sci-fi digressions, the lyrics are about creating space warps and waking up ice giants after a millennia sleeping on a distant planet. In February 2020, Slift released their double LP ‘Ummon’ – a space odyssey about titans, blending acid krautrock, cosmic jazz and powerful heavy saturated guitars – through Vicious Circle Records (France/USA) and Stolen Body Records (UK).

Slift are:
Jean Fossat: guitar, vocals, synth
Rémi Fossat: bass
Canek Flores: drums

“We can do what we want”

What’s the basic concept behind forming Slift?

Jean Fossat: We love sci-fi novel called “La Zone du Dehors” (The Outer Zone) written by Alain Damasio. Slift is one of the characters. When the band started, we were playing punk. We wanted to explore another formula, trance, more progressive and “psychedelic”, which for us means freedom.

How did you guys get together? Did you play in any other bands together?

Remi and I are brothers, and we know Canek since high school. Canek was already listening to psych stuff back then. We wanted to start a band with Rémi … I called Canek and the next day we played our first jam. We’ve always played together. Over the years we have played in different bands in our area. And then we decided to start Slift, because it’s in this band that we can do what we want.

“The exile of the titans to the borders of space”

‘Ummon’ was released in February 2020 and your name exploded in the scene. What’s the story behind recording it?

We recorded this album in Toulouse with Olivier Cussac. He is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and sound engineer. We had this idea of a concept album, which would tell the exile of the titans to the borders of space and the return to earth of the titan Hyperion. We wanted a cinematographic aspect, to make images appear in the heads of people who would listen to the record.

<a href="https://slift.bandcamp.com/album/ummon">UMMON by SLIFT</a>

Olivier composes a lot of music for the cinema, so he was the man for the job! Musically, we sought the balance between jams and writing. I’ve been obsessed for a long time with this Hendrix track, ‘1983… (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)’, which I think represents that balance perfectly.

How would you compare it to ‘La Planète Inexplorée’ which was released in 2018?

The main difference between ‘La Planète Inexplorée’ and ‘Ummon’ is that we played a lot and therefore developed our sound. For ‘Ummon’, we took our time. IAt’s an album that we have thought from A to Z. Everything you hear on the record is what we wanted. This is the first time we have been able to do this. ‘La Planète Inexploréeis’ is quite another thing, recorded in three days, with all that implies of urgency and randomness. However, there is no “right” way to record an album.

You have several other releases like for instance ‘2016 : Spacetrip for Everyone’. Would you mind talking a bit more about those early stuff you released?

We were looking for our sound, so we were experimenting. It’s demos recorded in our barn by a friend. 2016, we wanted all our songs in the same key, with the same tempo.

How do you usually approach song writing?

I bring scenarios and riffs, moods or themes. Then we all jam together until we find the version we like. Then we play these versions live, they evolve, then we record them.

It was really cool to catch you on KEXP!

Thank you! It was our first live filmed experience. We have already played a lot of times in front of anyone on tour, but here with the cameras it’s something else. It is not a simple exercise! We are rather shy by nature.

How would you describe your sound and what are some of the main influences?

We are a power trio. It’s probably the thing that defines us the best I think … And we are all prayers at the Hendrix electric church. We dig the different psych eras. Krautrock a lot. Metal and noise. Blues and prog. We listen a lot of different things. When we started playing, the Osees were very important, we liked their way of playing music and for me John Dwyer has some similarities to Hendrix in the way he does things. He brought up to date a very elegant way of playing. Like a child, as if the guitar was playing a prank on you or playing hide and seek. But I must admit that we don’t really listen to the neo-psych scene anymore. At the moment I listen a lot to ‘Red’ (King Crimson), ‘Infinity Machines’ (Gnod), ‘Times of Grace’ (Neurosis) and ‘Ptah, the El Daoud’ (Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders), Yonatan Gat, Zombie Zombie… among many others.

“We are working on our next LP”

Do you miss playing live? I hope you’re coping well with the current world situation?

We miss playing live a lot! Cause we love that. Actually we are working on our next LP, and we play boards game.

Any plans for the future?

A live session is out! New LP, new tour, new countries!

Thanks for taking your time. Last word is yours.

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

Klemen Breznikar

Slift Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp / YouTube
Vicious Circle Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Bandcamp / YouTube / SoundCloud