VOYD

View Original

PARIS TEXAS

Louis and Felix, the masterminds behind Paris Texas met in 2013 in high school. However, with musical interests worlds apart from each other, the duo had no idea what the future awaited them. It only took them so long to get together and have fun going against the rulebook. You would think their chemistry was flawed, but that was far from the truth.

“We just had great chemistry, and it was crazy, to say the least,” admitted Louis. He further went on to say, “It was weird how we both connected on a different level. It didn’t take us long to become obsessed with anything we introduced each other to. Sometimes we’d meet other people and laugh because they just wouldn’t get us, but we knew that we were aligned.”

As you dig deeper into their production, you’ll find remnants of earlier musical experiments. However, the duo claims that some of their ideas were too incomplete to put out there and were nothing more than “ideas by young minds,” yet to figure out where they were headed.

No matter how incomplete their ideas may be, Paris Texas know how to complete each other. As Louis raps “I live life in a comedy” in their recent single “Force of Habit,” Felix continues with his distorted guitars, “walking around like I’m the shit.”

However, nothing compares to their debut single, “Heavy Metal,” which has elements of electric rap and a punk baseline. The deafening crash cymbals and rock guitars further add some character to the song, reminding you of Pharrell’s NERD. The spooky video shows a pair dragged on the streets of LA with blood spilling like water and occasional shifts into white masks.

Only a month after “Heavy Metal,” Paris Texas dropped “Situations,” another unique rap tune with a video that turns them into virtual characters as they use a 32-bit game aesthetic. People often compare the duo to “Odd Future,” the American music collective formed in 2007.

However, the comparison has more to do with the attitudes than the musical style. There’s a hint of rebellion in Paris Texas’s music that you cannot let go of. There’s a refusal to follow the norms, and it’s further assisted by their young punk spirit, taking over their music entirely.

While speaking to a local platform earlier this year, Paris Texas talked about their love for live performances. However, with the pandemic and all that it has unleashed on the music industry in general, it was surely hard to keep up.

The duo further stated, “it's been an interesting ride so far. Since we don't get to see people much, we've learned how to move forward with online interactions temporarily, but there's something lacking there. You never really know who's with your music and who isn't. Back when our shows sold out in New York and LA, it really communicated to us that people were with us."

In the end, as we conclude this feature, here's how Louis prefers to describe the essence of Paris Texas " We're far from doing something well packaged and glossy. It's all about creating music the audience finds interesting and can resonate with."