POLO & PAN - Part of ASBO Issue 10

Colourful, positive, and dreamy – these are the three keywords that French duo Polo&Pan use to describe their brand as musicians. Perhaps it’s in the name being inspired by classics like Peter Pan – a movie that has encouraged many of us as children to dream. Or maybe it’s in the fun and striking visuals that burst with colour to illustrate their sound, as spotted on album covers and music vid- eos. But most of all, what makes Polo&Pan colourful, positive, and dreamy is their bubbly, exotic and flavoursome electronic sounds that makes us all want to do one thing and one thing only – vibe.

Le Baron is where it all started. It was in that French club that Paul Armand-Delille (aka DJ Polocorp) and Alexandre Grynszpan (aka DJ Peter Pan) found each other. Though at first, they had no idea that they would end up intertwining their talents to be- come the distinctive and funky musicians we know them as to- day. “We were both resident DJs there, so we ended up playing together”, says Polo. “We didn’t play that much before we started actually doing music, we just played a couple times, and we had a good connection. I had a studio back then and Alex (Pan) was doing a bit of music on the side too. He came to the studio, and it clicked right away.” Just like that, eight years, and a couple of albums later the duo has 3.8 million monthly listeners on Spotify and over 50 million streams in some of their most popular tracks.

Polo & Pan | Source: @digsterfrance

At first, we could say that Polo&Pan’s sound is simply electronic. However, when we deeply submerge ourselves into their music, we realise that what makes this duo so authentic is the way they blend sounds from various genres and cultures with an electron- ic structure, to make something that is truly refreshing. As Polo tells us, sources of inspiration are diverse. “We go a lot of differ- ent directions. We like South American music but also cinematic soundtracks and more dance music and stuff that could be a little more underground too. We also take inspiration from French mu- sic, and we use electronic production to bring everything together.”

Their uniqueness is once again demonstrated in their latest album, Cyclorama. With heavy influences on classical music, Cyclorama aims to be a positive yet balanced piece of work. Polo tells us that whilst their previous album, Caravelle, was meant to feel like pure sunshine, Cyclorama has a mix of both warm and cool vibes. “I would say it was only sunshine in the first album and this is more balanced between the sun and the moon. There’s some colder songs like ‘Tun- nel’, ‘Requiem’, and ‘Oasis’. It’s a little more esoteric and it’s a little less South American but also very solar. It’s simply more balanced.” When listening to their music, fans would describe their songs as “such a journey”, which is the exact feeling the duo wishes to evoke in their listeners. Polo tells us that the experience of lis- tening to their latest album should feel like a movie in which every song needs to be distinctive, which also explains why their work is built of many different sounds, shades and emotions. “The experi- ence of the album is not a homogenous experience. It’s more like a movie. People have a hard time listening to albums now, and if you want to engage them to listen to an album, you must do something with a lot of variety and you don’t want to hear the same song 10 times. It must be kind of like a little trip through. Like a movie. I think it’s a good analogy for what we’re trying to do with an album.”

Polo & Pan | Source: @berreandsimon

Nonetheless, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for the duo. As Polo tells ASBO, it took some trial and error until the pair could cre- ate something that would truly connect with listeners and make them rise to the top. “I started Polo&Pan when I was 32, but be- fore that I had a couple of bands. I had a project called ‘Open Space and Stars’, I worked really hard and released an album, and then I only did a couple of shows with it. It was kind of something put out there that didn’t really connect with the audience. It could of but it was missing that extra 10% or 20%. If you have something weak in a project, if everything is not flowing, then it can fall apart eas- ily. One thing that was important for me was to learn to work with other people and find my person that I could do something with.” A valuable lesson that we can take away from Polo&Pan is that trust- ing in the process is a real thing. After all, there is that saying that goes: Rome wasn’t built in a day, and Polo&Pan have clearly demon- strated that although they didn’t become successful musicians over- night, with work and perseverance, they are now topping the French SNEP Singles Chart. The duo leaves us with some inspiring advice: “If you can surf through the failures and stay true to yourself, then sometimes, at some point, you are able to build something strong.”