Your new album found you recording with Alain Clouzeau again and working with the group who accompany you live. Does that mean there's such a thing as a Bénabar 'stable' these days?
Yes, I did keep exactly the same team this time round. After having done so many concerts together last year we decided it would be a good idea to stay in the energy of the tour and carry things straight on from there. That's one of the reasons we recorded the album so fast. We only had two months' break between the last date in the tour and the moment we started working on the tracks for the album. Everything happened very quickly. Once I'd finished working with the arranger we threw ourselves into the recording sessions.

With such a close-knit team was the creation of the music on your new album a collaborative process?
I composed everything on the album myself which is exactly what happened with the last album too, apart from the track by Denis, the accordion-player. What basically happens is I take care of the music and the chords - and sometimes the themes too and then the arranger goes over the whole thing, doing the orchestrations and re-working everything with the musicians. Creating the overall sound of an album is real teamwork.

Following the success of your last album, Bénabar, what traps did you try and avoid falling into this time round?
I tried to avoid coming up with an overblown, over-produced album, you know, the mega-expensive star thing where you get Manu Katché in on drums and get a celebrity photographer like Mondino to do the photos when I could easily get one of my mates to do them instead. I wanted to avoid things like going off to London to record the strings in a special studio when a little family studio in Belgium was quite good enough. Things like that… Basically, I wasn't into the idea of creating a whole stack of problems which could quite easily be avoided in the first place!

Your new album, Les Risques du Métier actually stays very close to the musical universe you created on the last one. Did you try and make any kind of transition after Bénabar?
Well, it's true to say the changes we made this time round were fairly minimal, like adding strings for instance. But I assume the continuity between the two albums completely. I wanted there to be a feeling of follow-on, even if I did want to keep a certain margin for moving things on too. We worked on the rhythms a lot this time round and I think the overall feeling of the album moves on from that 'alternative French chanson' thing, the pomp of that… There's a certain heaviness to the ambience on the first album that meant that this time round we needed to work towards creating a much lighter, more open sound.

Your new album feels a lot less melancholic too...
I think that's a pretty subjective thing actually. Other people have said quite the opposite! I was very worried before doing this album, you know. When I looked at the songs we were about to record I was afraid they'd sound sad, or utterly depressing actually. But I have to say I'm pretty happy with the end result – things turned out a lot less depressing than I'd thought!

You're someone who seems to insist on doing things at your own pace…
I think I'm someone who likes to feel I'm evolving, but I'm not into the idea of changing things for change's sake. I'm not interested in coming up with an "original" album at any price. My real concern with this album was I didn't want to feel I was turning round and doing exactly the same thing. This is only my third album (the second released under the name Bénabar), but it's funny how quickly you can start repeating yourself and churning out the same thing... I think I managed to avoid that pitfall this time round though.

How?
By questioning what I was doing all the time and not being too indulgent with myself. I did songs exactly the way I felt them and assumed what I was doing completely, while managing to keep a bit of distance on other people's opinions... I actually ended up changing the lyrics quite a lot and binning entire verses, in fact. That's why I feel it's important to work with the same team and surround yourself with people who know you and can turn round and say "Sorry, mate, but that's a really bad song!" 

While the music on your new album is definitely a lot fuller and richer the arrangements remain very much in the background. Was that a way of trying to keep your sound as spontaneous and authentic as possible?
Yes, there was a deliberate decision to keep a pretty raw edge to the sound even though the album wasn't recorded live. There aren't many special effects on the album but there's a lot of acoustic stuff. We really tried to respect the sound of individual instruments and not have them disappear into the overall mix. That's why with the strings, for instance, we decided to use a trio rather than a full-on string section.

Was that some sort of 'political' choice or something that came about because of the success of your tour?
I'd say the latter really. When you're too caught up in producing an album you fall into the trap of the producer taking over the sound. But the thing is, if you choose to work with a certain musician it's because you like his personal style and individual sensibility and that's not something you want to end up disappearing into the overall sound. Maybe it's a bit vain to set out with the aim of trying to create a distinctive individual sound, because that's a bit of a Holy Grail as far as music's concerned. And while I don't think we completely achieved that on this album, Les Risques du Métier is a long way from having a deliberately formatted "made for radio" sound.

One of the things I noticed about your songs is that a lot of characters in them are women. Does this mean Bénabar should be considered as a "women's singer"?
I have to admit there was one point I turned round and said to myself, "Fuck, here I am doing a sort of alternative crooner's album!" But that's something I assume completely. And I have to say songs were judged on their own individual merit. There were actually songs that didn't mention women at all, you know, but somewhere down the line I decided they weren't good enough to keep!

You recently came out in support of the "Ensemble Contre la Guerre" collective, protesting against the war in Iraq. And yet you never actively address political issues in your songs. Why is that?
Hang on a minute, all I did was sign a letter and I was sort of talked into that by Mali from the group Tryo… Don't get me wrong, I was obviously against the war but I didn't totally agree with the way the protest was conducted. I mean it's one thing saying George Bush is a complete bastard, but I think it's a bit weird not to denounce Saddam Hussein at the same time!
I have to admit I still have a bit of a problem with doing political songs. I'm actually someone who's very political in my personal life, but I'm not very comfortable with the idea of singers getting up on stage and telling people what to think. It's too easy to fall into demagogy. Personally, I find the idea of going to play at Le Zénith and doing that whole "Look at me I don't like the war either!" thing a bit dodgy really.

The press have made a big deal out of the "new French chanson" scene which has emerged in recent years. How do you feel about being lumped together with the likes of Alexis HK, Vincent Delerm and Thomas Fersen?
I really like what they do, although I have to admit I'm not all that familiar with Alexis HK's work... But I don't feel all that close to what they're doing. I think I've got a lot more in common with guys like Sanseverino, especially when you take into account the careers we've had to date playing in little bars and stuff. I have a lot of respect for people like that. But at the same time I have to say I don't really recognise myself in the "new French chanson" thing journalists keep harping on about, even if I do sort of profit from that indirectly.

So what about the title of your new album? What exactly are the risks in this business?
Oh, there are a lot of them, believe me! Making a bad album, doing a record that doesn't sell or one that sells for the wrong reasons, selling out and betraying your ideals, fucking your health up by partying too much on tour… There's another big risk and that is that music starts to become a real business when the aim of the game is actually to reach out and touch people with your songs... I'm not too worried about that in my case, but you have to recognise there's a risk of that nonetheless. There's a risk of getting caught up in appearances and wasting time going to the hairdresser's before a show when you should be rehearsing instead. The risks of this business are getting caught up in all those things around music rather than the music itself!

Bénabar Les risques du métier (Zomba) 2003