“The show must go on.”
Since The Femme burst onto the scene with its elegant and cinematic wave of sound, Marlon Magnee It has been one of its creative pillars. Now, the French musician opens a new door: a solo project where he embraces rawer impulses—from rockabilly to punk and cold wave—to explore a more intimate and visceral energy. In this conversation, Magnee He talks about the origin of this moment, the risks he decided to take, his relationship with the musical history that formed him and the closeness he seeks to share with the Mexican public.
Indie Rocks!: What motivated you to launch this solo project right now, in the middle of your career with La Femme?
Marlon Magnee: We've been making music for a long time and this came naturally. It wasn't something planned; I just felt it was time. I didn't want to wait too long after what we did with The Femme. I wanted to throw myself into it, get back into the action and show something new.
Indie Rocks!: In the advertisement you describe the album as raw & fierymixing rockabilly, punk and cold wave. When did you first listen to any of those genres? What song made you say: “this should be part of my music”?
Marlon Magnee: There were several moments. I remember when my dad put me to Sex Pistols for the first time. I also listened to Californian punk like NOFX. Later I discovered the movie The Wandererswhich led me to music from the 60s: Dick Dale, The Shirelles, Del Shannon. There I thought: “I want to be a rocker.”
Indie Rocks!: You have said that you like to surprise and break limits. In this project, what personal or sonic border did you allow yourself to cross that perhaps you didn't explore with La Femme?
Marlon Magnee: I didn't rationalize it much; I just returned to my feelings, to that deep love for music: rock and roll, cold wave, rockabilly. I wanted to let myself be carried away by the energy and speed.
Indie Rocks!: How was it working with Renaud Letang on this new project? What did he contribute to your musical vision?
Marlon Magnee: It was incredible. Renaud Letang He is a teacher. Working with someone like this is a privilege. It helped me focus ideas, because sometimes I want to go in many directions at the same time. He was a guide, advisor, someone to trust. Of course, we had fights—over the reverbby atmospheres—, but always to improve the result.
Indie Rocks!: Is there any song or verse on the album that feels especially personal, even more than the others?
Marlon Magnee: The opening song is very intimate. Topics like “Do You Miss Me?” They are quite deep for me. Some tracks I wrote more than 10 years ago and others are completely new, so the album mixes emotional past and present.
Indie Rocks!: This show intimate in Lucid Theater: What value do you place on playing in small venues versus big concerts? What are you looking for in that closeness with the public?
Marlon Magnee: Being a new project, it is nice to start from the bottom. And this place is magical. It has history in Mexico and I feel connected to it. The people who take care of the space, the energy of the venue… everything adds up. Playing there is a privilege.
Indie Rocks!: La Femme always plays with sounds vintage and cinematographic references. For your solo project, what aesthetic or narrative did you want to build around the songs?
Marlon Magnee: It vintage It's still essential, but I wanted to push something new. I was interested in that middle ground: that it resonates with the old, but with a touch of newness. A mix between past and present.
Indie Rocks!: What are your less obvious references for this album—artists, films, theater, poets or stage atmospheres?
Marlon Magnee: Music is fundamental, but every project needs a visual and sensory universe. I returned to the purest of rock and its aesthetics: the direct, the raw, but with a personal stamp that makes it unique.
Indie Rocks!: What does “sound intimacy” mean to you? How did you seek to capture it on recording and how do you hope to broadcast it live?
Marlon Magnee: I'm not trying to capture something ethereal; I'm just looking to make the best album possible. For me, intimacy is born from honesty and energy. If something is sincere, that bond is felt in the studio and live.
Indie Rocks!: Finally: if you could invite anyone—living or dead, musician, poet or performer— to go on stage with you in this debut, who would you choose and why?
Marlon Magnee: On stage I don't know yet, but for the album I would have loved to collaborate with daft punk. I find the combination fascinating.
Marlon Magnee It moves towards a new territory made of candlelight and vulnerability. His solo project is not a break with The Femmebut a personal expansion: a space to sound without filters, to get closer to the heart of the noise and share it from Mexico. His passage through Lucid Theater He left songs, but also an invitation to explore the intimate—that closeness that only the purest spaces allow.
What's coming promises more risks, more sincerity and more movement: Magnee Not only does it tear down its own boundaries, it also encourages us to tear down ours.
