Saens/Sensitive To Light (May 2010)
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Topic: Saens/Sensitive To Light (May 2010)
Posted By: toroddfuglesteg
Subject: Saens/Sensitive To Light (May 2010)
Date Posted: May 19 2010 at 05:45
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Vynce Leff is a busy man with his new band http://www.myspace.com/whyzdomproject - But he took some time off to give us the story about his two previous bands http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=734 - and http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2492 - . This is the interview he gave us. --------------------------------------------------- What are you up to these days ?
Hi ! I'm fine ! I'm working a lot with
my other band Whyzdom... composing new songs, and playing some gigs in
France but also in Europe (Belgium, Swiss...).
I know you are no longer involved in
either Saens or Sensitive To Light but I feel that an interview with
you is still important for the sake of our community. What is your
musical background ?
I started music quite young, with the
flute. My main instrument then became the classical guitar. I loved to
play classical stuff from Tarrega, Albeniz, Villa Lobos... It was
therefore natural to play the electric version of the instrument of
course. And on the classical side I started to study orchestration (and
piano at the same time). That's why you can hear some orchestral parts
in Saens and Sensitive To Light music.
When did you set up Saens, how was your formative years and how did you get the record deal ?
I started the band with Pascal
Bouquillard back in 1997. We did compose enough material for an album
quite quickly. We tried to sign with french labels, and at that time,
we thought it should have been possible with Musea (the french
progressive label)... but oddly, they answered us that our music was
"not progressive enough". It still makes me laugh after all these
years. Then we tried to find a record deal abroad, and Mellow Records
Italy offered us one very quickly.
 Please tell us more about the first Saens album Les Regrets d'Isidore D. from 1999.
So, at that time, the name of the band
was "SENS". The lyrics were in french. The songs were collected from
various pieces that were composed before Pascal and I met, but there
was really something thrilling, putting it all together. We both
learned a lot from each other. It is both complex and attractive. I
don't think it met the success it should... probably because of the bad
distribution and the lack of promotion.
 Please tell us more about the second album Escaping from the Hands of God from 2002.
We tried to find another label for the
second album. We contacted Cyclops Records, and they answered us very
quickly. Actually, they had already received our demo 2 years before,
but we signed with Mellow before they had the time to give us an
answer. The main problem was that Malcolm from Cyclops was a bit
reluctant to release an album with french lyrics. So when they got an
email from us in 2001, they asked us if it could be done in english
language. Hence the change in lyrics from Les Regrets to Escaping. And
I must say I never switched back to french since then (sorry for my bad
english, ha ha ! ). This album did work very nicely. The best sale
figures of Cyclops at that time.  Please tell us more about the third album Prophet in a Statistical World from 2004.
Prophet was a more ambitious album. In
many ways, it is superior to Escaping... but more adventurous, so
people got a bit lost when they listened it. I think it is a very
mature album and it takes a lot of time to fully get into it. That's
what I really like with this one. Moreover, it can be considered as a
double album, since the limited edition initial released was a 2 CDs
set, with the "Dodecamania" track - a piece of contemporary
dodecaphonic rock music. I think it is something unique that only Saens
could do... and I am quite proud of what we did.
How would you describe Saens music, your years there and who would you compare them to ?
As I said before I think that Saens was
unique in the fact that we did mix very adventurous music with very
melodic and attractive parts... and most of the time, we worked a lot
to hide the complexity in the songs... so that complexity is not a
purpose in itself : it's useless if it's not there to create emotions.
I think we achieved something in this direction with Saens.
All in all, the years I had with Saens
were great. I learned a lot with Pascal and it's like a stone on which
I could build all my new musical work.
Why did you leave to set up Sensitive To Light ?
After 3 albums, I didn't see what new we
could make after such tracks as "Dodecamania", or "Statistical
World"... and I wanted to work with new people... especially with
female vocals. So I thought it was time to build something new.
How much from Saens did you bring over to Sensitive To Light ?
I guess I brought my own musical
identity, so people can obviously recognize the melodic style from
Saens to STL... as well as the work on the structures. The main
difference is that it's less complex, more melodic, and with a delicate
female voice.
 Please tell us more about the first Sensitive To Light album Almost Human from 2006.
Almost Human was like a rebirth. I met
Jenny who is a fantastic scottish singer and who inspired me so much...
and I had a fantastic concept about Pinocchio. At that time, I also met
Andy Tillison from The Tangent, who did like our music, and he
influenced me - though I'm not sure a lot of people can realize it in
our music. When the album was released, we were much more mature for
playing live and we enjoyed a lot on stage through France and also at
the Progsol Fest.  Please tell us more about the second album From The Ancient World from 2008.
I wanted to compose a 4 movements piece,
just like a real symphony, with a real coherence throughout the whole
work. It's full of melancholy about the past, about the passage from
childhood to maturity. There are a lot of celtic elements, with some
reminiscent folk parts, that are associated with the "ancient world"
and parts with clearly contemporary dissonances and metal sounds, much
more aggressive , that are associated with the "new world" - mixing
these two influences is really what this work is all about. It also
gave me the occasion to compose an orchestral piece as the 5th movement
and epilogue of the album.
How would you describe Sensitive To Light's music, your years there and who would you compare them to ? Ah,
honestly, I wouldn't compare them to anything else. This is probably
the thing that I love the most with SAENS and SENSITIVE TO LIGHT : I
never read any pertinent reviewer able to compare it directly with any
other band. I really think that we had our own identity. Sensitive To
Light is just some female fronted progressive symphonic rock, with
celtic and contemporary elements... you just have to listen to the
album and let it grow on you to know what it's all about... You left Sensitive To Light and set up a goth/metal band called WHYZDOM. Please tell us more about this band. Yes.
While I was working on "From The Ancient World", I had another idea in
mind, since I'm an orchestrator : I wanted to use real orchestra parts
in rock music. Unfortunately, the vast majority of prog lovers prefer
Mellotron over real orchestra. I must say that I HATE mellotron, and
that I'm deeply in love with real orchestra. At that time, I saw a
concert of After Forever in Paris, which is a great symphonic metal
band. They had an incredible piece of cello right in the middle of
their gig, and I was surprised to see that the audience was really
listening to it in great silence and respect... and that they simply
loved it. I discovered that many metal fans were really opened to
symphonic music. So at that time, I started to look for a new singer to
create a new project of metal music mixed with orchestra : WHYZDOM. The
band was signed very quickly, and people are so enthusiastic about it
that it started to take all my time... that's the reason why I had to
give up Sensitive To Light. I know that STL and SAENS fans are a bit
disappointed... but if you listen closely to Whyzdom, you'll find many
similarities with Sensitive To Light. This is especially true with the
forthcoming 2nd album that will be even more progressive that the first
one.
Just to wrap this interview up; do you have any regrets about Saens and Sensitive To Light ? No
regrets at all. Both bands were great, and I learned a lot with them. I
met fantastic people in the progressive world. Everything that I do
nowadays is related with all that I learned then. Creating Whyzdom was
a logical continuation of my personal musical development.
What is your five alltime favourite albums ? Loreena Mc Kennitt - The Mask And Mirror Mike Oldfield - Amarok The Alan Parsons Project - Tales Of Mystery And Imagination Pink Floyd - The Dark Side Of The Moon Dream Theater - Images And Words Anything you want to add to this interview ? A big thank to all the fans who followed Sens, Saens and Sensitive To Light... and please... give Whyzdom a chance. You might be surprised ! |
Replies:
Posted By: ShW1
Date Posted: May 22 2010 at 06:16
| Great... the man just made me feel like listening to his music ASAP... Saens are in my wishlist for quite long time. |
Posted By: sleeper
Date Posted: July 21 2010 at 17:49
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Good interview, dont know how I missed it first time round. I love Vynce Leffs work so I'm going to have to look for Wyzdom. ------------- Spending more than I should on Prog since 2005 
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