Entertainment
Reach Your Highest Peaks: Angelo Spencer and his Les Hauts Sommets
Angelo
Spencer is a man of the world. Born and raised in the French Alps, Spencer made
it to Washington in 2006. He brought with him both himself and his unique
sound. For his latest album, Spencer
Photo by Sarah CassAngelo
Spencer is a man of the world. Born and raised in the French Alps, Spencer made
it to Washington in 2006. He brought with him both himself and his unique
sound. For his latest album, Spencer went back to his roots. Angelo Spencer et
Les Hauts Sommets, which means “and the highest peaks” in English, returned to
France to record Love in the Morning,
due for release on June 23 from K Records. CULTURE caught up with Spencer, getting his take on his life, music
and a song off of his new album he wrote about cannabis.
When did you
first start playing music?
When
I was around 12, I started playing guitar, because I wanted to play Iron Maiden
(laughs).
What artist have influenced you both growing up and more recently?
When
I was four or five, my first memory is listening to the soundtrack of The Good the Bad and the Ugly. I had a
7” of that, and I would just play it over and over again. You know, with the
guitar and the whistle and all that. So that was a big, big influence on me.
And then moved to metal and then slowly moved to pop music. Now, I’m into
exploring world music, like raw recordings from Africa or India, things like
that—that whole trend of re-issue, and unheard sounds. Whatever raw recordings
taped on a boom box or something like that. A lot of guitar music too, like
surf guitar. I also like weird guitar composer music, like John Fahey and all
those weirdos who play guitar (laughs).
You recently
released a video for a single off of your upcoming album called Melatonin and Weed, can you tell us a
little bit about that?
I
went to France last year to record an album with some dear old friends of mine.
And I was totally jetlagged, and didn’t have my bag; it didn’t show up with the
plane. So I didn’t have anything. So we all had a little get-together, a little
party. We just ate and drank, and smoked a little; you know, French style, with
a lot of good food and all that. I went to bed around two in the morning, and
woke up at four a.m.; I was just like “Oh man, I really wish I could sleep,”
you know. I really needed some weed, or something to kill the jetlag so I could
wake up at a reasonable hour and record. So that’s when I wrote this song
pretty much. It’s kind of a strange waltz, that’s bizarre and dreamy and hazy.
