Welcome to Get To Know, an exploratory series guided by artists into countries, scenes, and cultures from across the globe. For the first edition, Brussels-based artist Le Motel takes us through the most fascinating places he visited during his travels in Vietnam.
It’s challenging to label artists like Le Motel. From graphic designer to film composer to DJ, labelling someone like Fabien Leclercq is as easy as trying to pin down a baby panda bear. Inspired heavily by the cross-cultural soundscape that is the UK’s electronic music scene, Le Motel grew up listening to early trip-hop icons such as Massive Attack and modern-day DJs like Ben UFO.
Their no-frills approach to throwing genres and styles together helped mould Fabien into his current form. A Raygun-esque musician who likes to layer sound across an audible grid system, resulting in sonic collages that feel both transportational and visceral. Le Motel has another string to his bow, however – anthropology. With a penchant for travel and field recording, Le Motel has spent the last few years exploring the globe, documenting and archiving cultural sounds and capturing the spirit of these places through field recordings. From tribal ceremonies to jungle harmonies, Le Motel captures moments in time, fusing them into his work in a sincere way.
For his latest record, Odd Numbers/Sô Lè, Le Motel travelled across Vietnam’s stretching landscapes with his trusty sound recorder in hand. From the roof of Indochina to the hustle and bustle of Hanoi, from one meaningful connection to another, Le Motel’s journey allowed him to document the cultural and physical soundscapes in the Land of the Blue Dragon.
Born through the collective effort of around 18 people, from poets to ethnomusicologists, the 15-track album is typical of what you can expect from Le Motel. It doesn’t stick to a genre profile but instead meanders between several inclinations. It’s ambient, poetic, cinematic, nostalgic, intense, calming, and vivid.
In it, he uses his talents as a visual artist and film composer to stunning effect. The album is very visual. So much so that when you close your eyes, your mind doesn’t struggle to place you into that world. His ability to create narratives helps you experience Vietnam through his eyes – and you really can see it. But, if for some reason you were still struggling to take it all in, Le Motel has kindly offered to list the favourite places he visited during his travels.
Sapa
Title : I Cried like a Child of Three / Tôi đã khóc như một đứa trẻ lên ba
Artist : Le Motel, Yvonne Quỳnh-Lan Dươn, Bui Thi Oanh, Phapxa Chan, Chi chi, Ma Ma Chi, Are Ro
This track is a tribute to Chi Chi, a Hmong women I met in Sapa mountains. We spent few days together, met her friends Mama Chi and Are Ro that you can hear laughing in the field the recordings, and her mum which is shaman in a village few kilometers from Sapa town.
I sent the demo of this tracks to Phapxa Chan, the Vietnamese poet I collaborated with on the album, and here’s his answer :
Dear friend, today I was captivated by your song, “I Cried like a Child of Three” I drifted with the footsteps and laughter of the highland girls. Then suddenly, as their laughter subsided and your music resonated like vaporous clouds of mist, I fell into a deep realm of solitude. In that place, I found myself vulnerable and as easily hurt as a three-year-old child. That’s how I perceived your work.
Hmong traditions are strongly embedded in this culture with sewing skills passed down through generations. One of the specificities of this culture comes from the traditional costume that continues to evolve over time, unlike those of other ethnic groups that have remained unchanged for at least a decade. Each one of them is made from hemp then dyed with indigo before undergoing hours of custom embroidery.
Hanoi
Title : Hanoi – The Motorcycle Empire / Hà Nội – Đế chế Xe ôm
Artist : Le Motel, Dung Tran Quoc, Gretar Ingi Gunnlaugsson
The first thing you’ll notice when you arrive in Hanoi, is the beautiful organized chaos of the city, where the motorbikes are the are queens, this is why I called this track Hanoi – The Motorcycle Empire. There’s a very proximity feeling with death in Hanoi which I find fascinating. First day, it’s very scary to cross this sea of motos, but then you realize the only way to survive is to let everything go and to cross it in a very constant and self-confident movement.
Ha Giang
Title : La palanche / Đòn gánh
Artist : Le Motel
Ha Giang is an extremely beautiful area of Vietnam, and definitely one of my highlights. It’s a very beautiful loop that you can make with a motorbike in the mountains. You can drive yourself, or join local guides. The landscapes are breathtaking. Keep in mind there that there are in total 54 different minorities in Vietnam, each with its own language, its own clothes, its own ceremonies, etc. Fascinating.
The voice you’ll hear hear are coming from some itinerant marchants. they recorded their voices and play it on a speaker on their moto, which made this weird repetitive delayed vocal.
Hué
Title : Đông Ba Market
Artist : Le Motel, Hoàng Tuấn, Yvonne Quỳnh-Lan Dương
This tracks features Hoàng Tuấn, a very talented musician I met in Hue, he’s part of “Nha Nhac” (Vietnamese royal court music), which has been recognised by the UNESCO as world cultural heritage, is a special art form of the Imperial City of Hue. I met him in a temple in the morning, and ended drinking tea with him and his family and learning a lot about Vietnamese music.
I really enjoyed getting lost in Hue markets, meeting people, learning about Vietnamese traditions, like for example Xăm Hường (which is another track in the album) : a famous folkgames playing in the Royal family of Nguyen’s Dynasty.
Fansipan
Title : The Universe is a Rabid Creature / Vũ trụ là con thú điên
Artist : Le Motel, Bui Thi Oanh, Phapxa Chan, Yvonne Quỳnh-Lan Dươn
You can walk for few intense days, or take a train, and then a very impressive cable car to arrive on top of fansipan, a 3,143 metres mountain, between Tam Đường District, Lai Châu and Sa Pa town. It is the highest mountain on the Indochinese peninsula. On top, you’ll find some beautiful monuments, a huge buddha, and maybe a new part of yourself between the clouds.
I sent the demo of this tracks to Phapxa Chan, the Vietnamese poet I collaborated with on the album, and here’s his answer :
« Dear friend, the good news is that this today I luckily wrote my first poem inspired by your track “Fansipan DMT”. Your music brings me a sense of the universe. I have experienced DMT before, and each time I feel like I dissolve into the universe and awaken deep instincts within me.
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