Interview by Shannon Lawlor
Matthieu Auriacombe aka Hello Beautiful is an electronic producer and musician currently based in Pretoria, South Africa. Since 2013, Hello Beautiful has released a number of collaborations and remixes, as well as two EPs and a self-titled full-length album.
Hello Beautiful initially formed as side-project pseudonym, or as entity for which Matthieu Auriacombe could personally shape, but quickly evolved into something much more. Eventually joined on stage by drummer and brother Johan Auriacombe, visual artist Ben Rausch and most recently, Wim Jansen Van Rensburg on guitar, strings and synthesizer to further elaborate on Hello Beautiful’s rich, sophisticated sound.
Hello Beautiful are set to perform at Cape Town’s picturesque Endless Daze festival on November 3rd, surrounded by lush scenery and it’s inevitable power to impress.
In preparation for Endless Daze festival, we spoke with Hello Beautiful on crafting a new live experience and what the future may hold:
For those foreign to Hello Beautiful’s blissful glow, could you give us some insight into how the project was initially conceived?
Hello Beautiful started out around 2012/2013 as a solo project, I use to just perform live as one person, it was around 2016 that I got the band together member by member, the whole idea of Hello Beautiful from the start was to have a band perform the stuff live, glad we are at this point now, it’s definitely more of a party with four members jamming it out! The band consists of me, Matthieu Auriacombe (synth/bass/vocals), Johan Auriacombe (drums & effects), Ben Rausch (live visuals/hype man) and Wim Jansen van Rensburg (keyboard/guitar/bass).
Sophomore EP Leftover Dreams was released in September 2016, how did the recording process differ from Hello Beautiful’s introductory EP titled Supernova Love from 2013?
Not too much different than the other EP’s, I composed Leftover Dreams in my studio in Pretoria during most of 2016. We have been working on a our first album for the past 6 months or so, this one has got a bit of a different vibe when it comes to the making of the album, everyone is more involved, jamming as a band has changed the writing process a bit. And of course, Ben on the album art.
On November 3rd, or rather, after midnight, Hello Beautiful are set to perform at Endless Daze Festival located in South Africa. What are you most looking forward to about this experience?
It will be our first Cape Town show as a full band, we are all super excited about that. I have only been hearing great things about this festival, a great bunch of music lovers coming together to bring you an epic festival in an awesome location, and the line up is mental. The Psych Night crew never disappoints.
Hello Beautiful holds a fair amount of remix credit too – if you could collaborate on, or remix work for any artist on the planet, who would it be, and why?
I would really like to remix “Air – All I Need”. Air has been my favorite band since I can remember, there is just something about French artists, I really like the French electronic scene.
If Hello Beautiful could single-handedly change the music industry, how would you do it?
More cowbell.
Hello Beautiful boldly bridges the gap between solo studio production and a full band set-up; where live performances are expanded upon even further with the use of triggered visuals. How important do you feel this addition is in experiencing Hello Beautiful’s live show?
For the past year and a bit we have been crafting our live show, we learn from every show we play, we all feel it is super important to throw a proper show that doesn’t just sound like the recording, but has more of a live aspect that you can only experience at a show. The visuals makes a huge difference, and having Ben rock out while doing it, even better.
What does the future hold for Hello Beautiful?
New music next year (no release date set, we’ll release it when we feel it is the best it can be), would be awesome to do a in studio live performance of the whole album, and of course, just lekker vibes!
Hello Beautiful will be performing live at Endless Daze festival in Cape Town, South Africa, 3 – 5 November
For more information follow Hello Beautiful on Facebook
