Rone

As Rone, Paris-bred producer Erwan Castex creates music that is both otherworldly and warm, marrying cinematic ambitions to sounds and ideas rooted in minimal and experimental techno. Establishing a shimmering, melodic techno sound with his 2009 debut, Spanish Breakfast, his music gradually became more elaborately constructed and stylistically diverse. Albums such as 2014′s Creatures and 2017′s Mirapolis featured guest appearances from Saul Williams, Bryce Dessner (the National), and Etienne Daho, while incorporating symphonic arrangements, trance elements, heartfelt balladry, and more. Born in the Parisian suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt in 1980, he debuted his Rone project in 2007, co-producing several tracks with Italian techno artist Lucy. After attracting the attention of French producer Agoria, Rone was signed to the InFiné label in 2008, making his solo debut with the Bora EP. Following the single “La Dame Blanche,” his debut album, Spanish Breakfast, landed on the imprint in 2009. In 2011, Castex moved to Berlin and recorded his sophomore effort, Tohu Bohu, a 2012 release that featured rapper High Priest from Antipop Consortium. The album’s biggest single, “Bye Bye Macadam,” hit in 2013 thanks in part to a virally successful animated video and a Juan Atkins remix, while that same year, the National hired Rone to provide soundscapes for their album Trouble Will Find Me. In 2014 he toured North America alongside Com Truise. His third album, Creatures, landed in 2015 with Etienne Daho and the National’s Bryce Dessner among its guests. A groundbreaking virtual reality videoclip for Creatures track “Quitter la Ville” was released. Rone co-wrote the opening track on Jean Michel Jarre’s Electronica 2: The Heart of Noise, which appeared in 2016. Following the EP Vood(oo), another 2016 release, Rone’s fourth album, Mirapolis, was released in 2017. This time out, guests included Saul Williams, Baxter Dury, and Noga Erez. The Mirapolis Remixes EP, featuring a particularly epic take by Laurent Garnier, followed in 2018. “Golden Solitude,” a single featuring Haitian-Canadian singer/songwriter Mélissa Laveaux, and Motion, a collaboration with Les Siècles Orchestra and pianist Vanessa Wagner, both appeared in 2019. Rone’s fifth full-length, Room with a View, arrived in 2020. Unlike many of his previous releases, this one featured no guest musicians. However, it was produced alongside a stage show commissioned by the Théâtre du Châtelet and developed with choreography collective (LA) HORDE and dancers from the Ballet National de Marseille. ~ David Jeffries & Paul Simpson