Two cars have arrived on the muddy road. I hoped it was them, as I was also hoping that more people would come. It wasn’t exactly how I planned on meeting them, but there was a first time for everything. Even though the event I was working on for months hasn’t turned out the way it was planned, Bogdan, Andu, and Dan were there to let me know that everything happens for a reason and this time, the reason was way beyond the bad luck of not having a successful event. But I only got to realize that later on. They had a very small crowd that night. It was August, but it was the coldest summer night I can remember. Their music gave life to the dark corner in the woods and they kept my blood running because it was the first time I started dancing that night. I took a few minutes to talk to them and was again surprised by how humble they were. I kept in touch with Andu ever since. I think there’s been like 3-4 years or so. I watched them perform at other events too. No matter the context, these guys are there for the music. To play, to have fun and to make you enjoy your night out. It kind of reminds me of the stories that my dad used to tell me about his nights at the disco. Everybody had a great time because the attention was not on the DJ himself, but on his skills, his vibes and his music.

We share a little throwback to that event, for starters.  

First of all, thank you Ioana and BADASS DJ for the invitation. It’s a pleasure to chat with you about our project. Such nice memories about the Moreni event, in the woods. Actually, we feel so comfortable playing music in nature.

What caught my attention was the chemistry you guys had during the performance. Not to mention how humble and fun you were. What was it like in the beginning? How did you all connect this way?

In the beginning, we’ve started as solo producers (making mainly bedroom electronic music). After some time, we’ve gathered together due to some happy circumstances and that’s how Lisière Collectif was born in Ploiești, back in 2012. Andu and Dan were classmates in primary school and in the meantime, Bogdan formed an electronic project alongside Andu, called A Dublu. The Lisière was the normal step between ourselves, the happy incident.

If you take a look at their Social Media accounts you can definitely see a trademark there. Unlike usual DJs, the trio chose to keep a visual direction that reflects their roots. Retro kind-of-like pictures, with a funny twist. Shots of different parts of their hometown and nature, an admixture between the urban and nature’s influences that have imprinted in their style. They have recently released their 3rd album, LSR No. 03 and described it as mentioned below:

When they felt that the world around them became a place too chaotic to live, they knew that nature and music were there to calm their spirits and bring a sense for living. They are a musical trio who named themselves Lisiere Collectif in order to bring an ovation to what brought Bogdan Ardeleanu, Andu Simion, and Dan Gheorghe together. A minimalist and well-controlled style is their productions’ main characteristic, just like the movement of natural elements in the wind’s blow. Although the project was born in the suburbs of Ploiesti City, their tunes travel through the souls of many techno passionate people around the world.

It is indeed a movement, illustrated through both visual and music. One that gives them the opportunity to deliver tracks which for me are a trigger that take me back to the 90s, as I feel the urge to explore music in essence.

I want to know a little bit about what happens behind the group – I know you guys have been working at different daily jobs. How does Lisiere Collectif work as a band and where do you produce your tracks?

Our mainly common element was the passion for different approaches and genres of electronic music. Here we can talk about the 2000s minimal, the Detroit oriented music, the breakbeat era, the US deep house and also German techno. That’s what we want to be put on the market, records with a mixture of our preferred type of grooves, themes, and melodies.

The next organic step was to sign some records and to start working on the awareness of our project. So, apart from our week time jobs, in the beginning, we were meeting in Ploiești, in Dan’s bedroom and working to the tracks each Saturday and Sunday. That’s how our Moods and Grooves vinyl comes out on the market, and the next Phonongramme had the same story. Bedroom tracks finished without any hardware gear. Just our feelings and approach put together and transformed into club-orientated tracks. Now we’re all Bucharest based and outside work, sessions are taking place mainly at Bogdan’s place.

Do you guys find your own gigs?

On the logistic part, yes. We’re managing our own gigs, based on the connections developed during the years.

How would you describe Lisiere Colectiff as an identity – the sounds, the image?

We’re also in charge of creating our visual identity, designing the flyers for various events and also the covers for our physical releases on Lisière Collectif Series. The imprint started in 2017. For us, it is an important connection between sound design and visual design. In one word, the Lisière is the perfect mixture between the ear and the eyes.

If you were to describe yourselves as individuals?

Ourselves as individuals… hard to reply! We usually don’t talk so much about this, as we prefer to let the music speak for us. But Dan is the perfectionist, Bogdan the geek guy and Andu the one that experiments different directions.

Which one is the stubborn one and which one of you is the bossiest?

About who’s the boss I think each of us thinks the boss is the other, not yourself, and that’s what makes it you are constructively ambitious to shoot more to overtake it.

At the side in stubbornness, we think everyone wears it because every one of us wants things to go well.

Looking at the local scene, how hard it is for a trio to stand out – either in terms of production or performance?

The local scene is very open and we think that every artist can find his proper place to develop a project. For us, it was a bit difficult in the beginning because we didn’t embrace the well-known Romanian minimal as our main genre. But when we’ve put out some records with acid influences, deep sounds and textures, the feedback was really nice and a lot of DJs around the world supported our tracks! That’s a great feeling when you heard your track played by Raresh at the historical Rex Club, for example! As a trio, sometimes is difficult to conclude and finish the tracks, because we are three people. But again, our common element is electronic music, and this different approach is very productive. About DJ’ing, we’ve started in 2012 and now the whole act is running very smoothly. It’s important to be in permanent connection with your project mates because we learn new things all the time.

What was your favorite collaboration so far?

We didn’t make so many collaborations regarding music production, but we’ve worked with a lot of great artists for remixes. Here we can mention Priku, Morphology, SIT, Melodie, Teluric, Steve O’Sullivan, Jorge Savoretti, Nima Gorji.

What are you guys working on in the following period?

In the following period, we are preparing the 4th release on LSR and also two records for the well-known sublabel of Sushitech, called Pariter. Also, trying to schedule some gigs for the next months.

What else do we find in your playlists?

You can spot different types of music in our playlist, such as ambient, jazz, downtempo, hip-hop, drum and bass, experimental and also indie.

One thing people do not know about Lisière Collectif?

One thing people don’t know about us: we’re huge fans of old arcade video games!