Hailing from Rouen in Normandy, Tahiti 80 comprises Xavier Boyer, songwriter and lead singer, Sylvain Marchand, drummer, Mederic Gonthier, guitarist, and Pedro Resende, bass player and sound engineer. Our interview took place in jam-packed car as it made its way across Paris to TV studios in the western suburbs.

You organised Tahiti Parties across the country to celebrate the new album. Is this a new development?
Xavier Boyer : No, we've been professionally deejaying for some time. For example when we're on tour, we sometimes deejay after the concert. Last summer, I also played at one of the Respect nights. We started to do it a bit more seriously rather than just among friends. We've been keeping a low profile, and we thought it was a good way to get back into the spirit of things. And the public can get to hear what's been influencing us, what we were listening to during the recording sessions. While we were preparing our sets we listened to a lot of stuff that's been influencing our writing. A lot of soul, but a lot of dance music as well.

What records were you listening to during the recording sessions?
We had an iPod in the studio. We developed a sort of telepathic relationship with it. When we had a block on a track, we took a break, someone would listen to the iPod and that track would generally show us what we had to do for the song we were working on. For example, for the song What Next, we did it 25 different ways, we changed the chords while keeping the melody and vocals… then at one stage I was listening to My Girl by the Whatnauts, sixties soul, and after that we came up with something much more spontaneous. We listened to a lot of old Michael Jackson too, Jackson Five stuff and Off the wall, but also the Avalanches album, which has so much going on.

Any hip hop?
Our roots are in rock and pop. After our first two albums, we started to get in tune with our soul influences, but in our own way without directly copying, a bit like Level 42. We felt a lot closer to people like Outkast, Nerd or Cody Chestnutt, than the White Stripes, Strokes or Muse. That type of music is a bit retro and doesn't inspire us.

You worked with Serban Ghenea and Neal Pogue, sound engineers for Outkast and Nerd...
They usually work with groups who ship a lot of albums, but they charged less for us, because they wanted a change. Neal put in a lot of work, and he came with us to Rouen to finish the album. Serban worked from the West Coast in the U.S. We never actually met him, it was a bit like Charlie's Angels!

Outkast and Nerd both blend rock and hip hop...
Run DMC and Aerosmith did it and it worked, the Beastie Boys as well. We like hip hop, but I don't find it easy to listen to a whole album of it, I miss the melodies. So we tried to use a hip hop base and then do our own thing with it. Changes is a good example. It's got minimal production, just a drum beat and pretty rhythmical singing. It's not like conventional hip hop, or  like pop or rock you normally hear.

Why do you do so many love songs?
Because I have long hair and I'm romantic (laughs). We love groups like the Who or the Stooges... but that aggressive attitude is not really where we're coming from. We don't want to force anything, it's best to stay as true to yourself as possible. And our model is very obviously the Beatles.

Who do you feel musically close to in France?
We're friendly with people like Dyonisos, Luke or Mickey 3D. They're very nice people, but their style of music is very different to ours. There are some French groups who sing in English, like Fugu, from Nancy. We both put out records, and realised we had a lot in common. There isn't really a French pop scene, but you discover things in common with other artists.
As for Air, we don't know them at all, and they're less about pop. Maybe we have more in common with Phoenix: the same pop/rock influences and the same willingness to experiment with electronic and black music.

Why do you sing in English?
I've always sung in English, because my influences are Anglo-Saxon. And it appeals to me to sing in another language,  there's a playful aspect to it and you don't have the same reflexes as you would in your own language. English allows for much greater vocal inflections which would be ridiculous in French. In any case, half the French singers use English intonation, and it doesn't sound good. Salsa will always be best in Spanish. And the language of pop is still English.

Tahiti 80 Fosbury (Atmosphérique) 2005