Meet a French musician who makes bedroom pop for every season.

November Ultra’s music is impossible to walk past. The soft and tender voice calls you to tuck in the gentlest of blankets, dreaming about being vulnerable in love and life. Inspired by overflowing emotions and Parisian friends, Nova released a debut album, ‘bedroom walls’. It works miracles on the hardest of hearts in any surroundings. In a split second, the harmonies hug you tightly as you slowly let the music consume you as Ultra says in ‘‘le menège’, ‘I will eat your heart’. Enjoy. We hope it’s half as tasteful as the record.

Today, we meet November Ultra through the cosiest digital chamber to show us around her ‘bedroom walls’.

Can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?

My name is November Ultra, I'm a French musician and people say I do bedroom pop.

How has Paris influenced your music?

That's an interesting question, I've never really thought about it before. I don't know if Paris has influenced me directly, maybe more the people I've met in Paris, the music family we built here, friends who are part of the French music scene but come from all around France, I'd say probably that's what has had the most influence on my music and my album because I made it here partly by myself and partly with them - Paris was this magical place where we met, full of endless possibilities.

If you were to describe your music to someone who’d never heard you before, what would you say?

That it's very soft and very tender. At least most of it is. Haha.

How do you produce your music?

I always start on classical guitar or piano, very simple chords and I write right away on it, lyrics and melodies at the same time. I record the instruments with a mic, because I'm not really fond of midi when I produce myself. Then I subtly try to draw arrangements over it, it can be sounds that I record and distort to make rhythmic or layers of vocals... and then it's all about trials, errors and a whole lot of editing - how can i make a song sound simple, grounded yet eventful and dreamy. It's like writing a story, i love it.

What inspires your music?

My overflowing emotions. The "Ultra" part of my name.

How are you feeling about the release of your debut album ‘’bedroom walls’’?

Incredibly excited, truly. I started it in 2018, released the first song in 2020 and now it's 2022, I feel like an eleven-month pregnant person ready to meet her baby. But i wouldn't change a thing about it, love is in the details and i've loved making this album very very much.

Do you have any plans to tour in 2022?

Yes ! I feel so grateful and so lucky, I'm playing London on April 28th and The Great Escape on May 12th in the UK, and loads of dates in France, and hopefully other places and countries too. I can't wait to sing my little heart out everywhere.

Can you tell us something interesting about yourself that doesn’t have anything to do with music?

I've had chicken pox twice, which normally is impossible, haha I don't know if that's what you had in mind as being interesting but there you go.

Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s important to you?

James Blake's first album, released in 2011, 11 years ago and it still feels so current, so modern. It's very rare to listen to an album and think "if he released this today, it'd still be ground-breaking". I love everything about the album : not only how well-written, composed and arranged it is, the work on harmonies and chord progressions is mind-blowing, but also how he utilises and incorporates silence and noise in his music. "I never learnt to share" is a perfect example of that for me, it's a song that takes its time, the layering is slow, the lyrics repetitive, it pokes at our impatience, there's a first build up that blows over and then it's starts again and it's because of that, because our ears have heard and assimilated all the information, that it hits so hard when it finally comes to the breaking point at 3.41 with a noise that is as orgasmic as it is painful to listen. I love it.

What do you hate right now?

I hate hateful people who make it their mission to f*ck other people's lives.

What do you love right now?

I love that Harry Styles is releasing a surprise album.

What comes next in the November Ultra story?

Pfiou, good question! To be honest, I have a bucket-list of dreams I hope to achieve, but I don't want to think about what comes next, I want to focus on what is now. I've worked four years on this album and I want to enjoy it, all of it, every single concert, every single moment I get to live and experience thanks to it.

Is there any new music from 2022 you are enjoying?

Rosalía's album "Motomami" and Melissa Laveaux's album "Mama Forgot her name was miracle" - absolutely obsessed.

Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?

Hi darlings, thank you so much for reading, I hope you're having an amazing day. Bisou-doux.

Start Listening To: November Ultra