RFI Musique: Three of the songs on your new album were produced by Tony Visconti, yet another occasion where you ended up working with one of David Bowie’s old team. Did Visconti talk to you about his collaboration with Bowie?
Raphael: Visconti loves talking about the albums he’s made with Bowie. He’s even written books about them, you know. Actually, I’d already interrogated Carlos Alomar (the guitarist who has most regularly appeared on Bowie’s albums since 1974) when he came into the studio to work on my album Caravane in 2004.  Mike Garson (Bowie’s pianist between 1972 and 1974) joined me on an acoustic tour and I bombarded him with questions all the time, too. So when it came to Visconti, I’d more or less run out of questions. He’s the one that did most of the talking!

What’s Visconti like as a producer?
He’s very engaging, very likeable - and very much a musician. Visconti never gets all passionate and worked up about things. He’s always very cold, very professional. He’s the anti-Phil Spector in that respect! I guess Visconti’s the rock equivalent of Brel’s legendary arranger, François Rauber. He’s amazing, he can sit down and compose a piece for a string quartet in twenty minutes flat. Visconti takes a very technical approach to music and that’s not at all been the case with people I’ve worked with up to now.

And what about Renaud Letang, who also produced three songs on Je sais que la Terre est plate?
Renaud’s a bit more experimental. He likes to spuddle around in the studio a lot. And in that sense what he does comes closer to what I come up with at home - although what he comes up with is obviously a million times better than what I do!

Listening to your new album, it sounds like you’re a lot more sure of your musical choices this time round…
Well, that’s funny, because I’d say this album is the one where I most opened the door to other ideas. When you work with top producers like Visconti and Letang, you obviously have to sit back a bit and let them get on with the job. I still ended up producing five tracks on my own, though. There were moments when I wasn’t happy with what Visconti and Letang came up with and I decided to produce myself. But I was really open throughout the whole process. The idea of working with Visconti and Letang was that I wanted them to inject something new, something I could never have come up with myself. I realised I’d got to the point where I was just going round in circles, locked into my own little system and I needed to work with someone else to get fresh ideas. The problem I have in the studio is that I’m always plagued by doubt. I doubt everything I’ve done all the time. It’s like I never really push an idea to its conclusion. I instantly start regretting what I’ve done and branch out in another direction. And that drives everyone around me crazy!

I’ve heard that you’re planning to go and do your first concerts in La Réunion. Is that true?
I’m totally fascinated by the island. You know, I recently discovered Alain Peters, a singer who’s a sort of local Réunionais version of Jimi Hendrix. When you listen to him sing, it sounds like a slowed-down version of bayou. You’re plunged into this magical atmosphere, this sort of mysterious sorrow that seems to infuse everything on the island. So yes, it’s true, we are going out to La Réunion to prepare the tour and we’ll be playing the first concerts out there in October. There’s going to be quite a lot of us up on stage, plenty of violins and a big brass section. I’d like it to be like a mad Gypsy circus, all a bit chaotic, a bit anarchic and very, very lively with things shooting off in all directions at once…

When you write your songs is it primarily with the idea of getting out there and performing them live on stage?
No, I write songs because I enjoy writing songs. But I think it’s fair to say I always go round thinking the grass is greener. When I’m in the studio, all I want is to get out there on stage. And when I’m out on tour, all I want is to be back in the studio making another album. That’s my Woody Allen side!

And would you like to model yourself on Woody Allen in terms of output?
You mean, bring out a new album every year? I don’t think I’m capable of that! Obviously, I’d like to speed things up a bit and spend more time ‘doing’ rather than just thinking about things. I think the way Woody Allen makes one, or sometimes even two, films a year is completely amazing. But, when it comes to music, the market just can’t absorb that much. When you have a hit album it becomes totally invasive and a hit album goes on selling over at least two years. Woody Allen never takes over the airwaves to the point where you can’t get him out of your head. If you want to see a Woody Allen film you have to make an effort to go to the cinema or get the movie out on DVD. But when something’s a big hit on the radio you hear it everywhere all the time, whether you want to or not. I think with albums you have to leave people a bit of space in between!

Do you ever get nervous about how a new album will go down with the media? I find the whole process interesting rather than nerve-wracking. It’s like when I do a photo shoot with someone like (French photographer) Mondino. Seeing the way he sees me helps me understand certain things about my album. There’s obviously a fear that the press might rip me to shreds, but I also realise that journalists and critics can help me understand things.

The title track on your album states Je sais que la Terre est plate (I know the Earth is flat), but on another song, Les Limites du monde, you sing "I know the Earth is round." A bit contradictory to say the least…
The thing is, in this country we’re always more or less caught up in Cartesian logic all the time. I liked the idea of coming along and upsetting that, suggesting that things are not always what they seem.