A new direction for Point Mort.
After successfully defending their previous album on stage, Sam Pillay (vocals), Olivier Millot (guitar), Damien Hubert (bass), Simon Belot (drums) and Aurélien Sauzereau (guitar) unveil Le point de non-retour, their second album, via Almost Famous label.
The album kicks off in electronic tones with Avm Ajar, featuring Sam‘s vocals, but you get the feeling that the band is just waiting to explode, and they do just that on An Ungrateful Wreck of Our Ghost Bodies. The track shifts from devastating Black Metal to vindictive Post-Hardcore, passing through the craziest hues on this very long composition, even daring a soaring Trip-Hop break where haunting clean vocals replace the unleashed screams, but it’s with the uncontrollable intensity of violence and saturation that the band continue on their way to The Bent Neck Lady. The track gets off to a slow start, leaving the singer alone with an ambient sound, but the rest of the band gradually joins her and the song ignites, becoming dissonant and majestic, where all the rage is expressed, but once again she’s not alone. At times, the vocalist seems possessed, setting stranger intonations before returning to her visceral vociferations against a backdrop of overpowering Post-Metal, before joining Skinned Teeth, a much shorter and more energetic track that borrows from Hardcore’s savagery, but also from more accessible tones that cloud the chaos and tint it with an element of mystery at moments when the duality is strongest. We move on to the eponymous track, Le point de non-retour, where the singer once again begins alone with a heady melody, gradually letting the other musicians join in to create intoxicating tones within which we easily lose ourselves, but saturation is never far away to weigh down the mix. The composition is also fairly short, and Iecur takes over to keep us on our toes with equally surprising and jerky heavy riffs, leaving us a little respite before venturing into new genre mixes, each more surprising – and sometimes violent – than the last, like this crushing final. With Der, the album returns to a vaporous gentleness, which is reassuring even during the most abrasive passages, but which gradually becomes anchored in its crushing heaviness, only to emerge from it at rare moments, leaving clean vocals and howls to cohabit in this devastated landscape right up to the finale.
The album also contains a radio edit (shortened) version of The Bent Neck Lady, but even if the band takes less time to develop its universe, it remains gripping.
I’ve known Point Mort for years, but their mixes still surprise me with their coherence and explosiveness. Le point de non-retour is definitely their most accomplished and intense work to date!
95/100
A few questions for Point Mort on the release of their new album, Le point de non-retour.
Hello, and first of all, thank you for your time! This is already the third interview we’ve done together, so we’ll try to innovate: How would you describe the band Point Mort as simply as possible?
Sam (vocals): Point Mort, apparently, is the break-even point for a rock band 😉
Olivier (guitar): No better!
Your new album Le point de non-retour is about to be released, how do you feel about the band? Have you had any feedback on it yet?
Sam: We’re in great shape, and we can’t wait to play this merry mess live. The first feedback we’ve had is all about King Diamond, so we’re all set.
Olivier: Personally, I’ve got the bit between my teeth! We’ve been working on this album for 2 and a half years now, and ever since it was recorded, we’ve been dying to play these new tracks! As far as feedback is concerned, the people around us have been raving about it! As for the rest of the world, initial feedback has been very positive.
How would you sum up Le point de non-retour in three words?
Sam: Point, no, return. (literal translation, ed.)
Olivier: I’ll use Dam‘s (bassist) expression, even if I’m spoiling the documentary a bit: “A scandal of success”. That’s 4 words, and may sound arrogant, but in terms of everyone’s involvement and our objectives on this album, we have, despite all the difficulties, done exactly what we wanted. Whether people like our work or not, it won’t take away that personal satisfaction. On the last night in the studio, Sam and I were talking about the record and, for the first time after a recording, we told each other we were happy! So yes, “A scandal of success”!
What was the creative process like for Le point de non-retour? What were the main differences with your previous releases?
Sam: The composition process was less “live” than previously. We worked a lot with pre-prods and scores before actually playing the songs together.
Olivier: For this album, we wanted more substance and more arrangements, especially for the vocal textures. On previous albums, we were a bit shy on the subject, due to a lack of studio time. We also wanted to take on more clean vocals and harmonizations. Between the first versions I composed and the final result, most of the adjustments were made to the vocals. As for the creative process, the idea was to go further in the narrative and immersive side. On the other hand, I also wanted the band to experiment with shorter formats. Paradoxically, for me, it’s easier to write an ultra-progressive 20-minute track than to contain the discourse in 3 minutes, without going off in all directions. And I’m very pleased with the result!
The band is known for its mastery of words, but also for its limitless mix of genres. How did you manage to create this touch?
Sam: Like with the food, by adding lots and lots of layers of cheese and spice.
Olivier: It’s not predetermined. We test a lot of things. If it works and triggers the little “Happy face” when you play it, it’s good! In that case, we keep it, whatever the style. We’re totally in touch with our Britney side, or not, hence this mix!
On Le point de non-retour, only the eponymous track is in French, but the lyrics are still in English. Why did you choose to keep it in French?
Sam: The French expression was more pictorial in my mind. And then, the little reminder, highlighting the word “point”, I thought was a nice touch 😉
On this album, you once again collaborated with Amaury Sauvé, and we can see from the documentary you released that he contributed quite a bit to the album. Why did you call on him, and to what extent do you follow his advice?
Sam: Stockholm syndrome, I suppose… 😉 This is the third album we’ve recorded with Amaury, and I think I’m speaking for the band when I say that we consider him a friend. For us, The Apiary is a bit like returning to our vacation home, where we feel comfortable, confident and have strong memories. During the rec, Amaury becomes the 6th member of the group. Even so, he’s not a permanent member, and this allows him to have a distanced vision of the project, to be more pragmatic and objective than us, who experience creation with affect. This is the added value we get from working with him.
Olivier: Sam summed up our relationship with Amaury very well. For me, he’s the 6th member of the group. He understands what we want to do and, above all, he allows us to listen differently. We don’t necessarily always agree with everything he proposes. He’s objective and allows us to put our work into perspective. When we get to pre-production and we’re still having trouble with certain pieces, he always manages to give us the keys to adjust certain passages. He helps us unblock obstacles.
The artwork was created by Sam (under the artist name Chatouille). How did you go about designing it?
Sam: There was a phase of going back to the material on this artwork. The Look at the Sky cover was drawn entirely on paper. R(h)ope was a mix of drawing and vector, while Pointless… was drawn exclusively on ipad. We wanted to get back to a more organic form for this album, and I wanted to get away from symbolism and symmetry, which are so ingrained in our visuals. To go where we weren’t necessarily expected. So I got out the box of pastels, worked on the large format and got my hands dirty. It was a bit of a mess in my living room while I was designing. Red was an immediate desire. From the outset, I only took the shades used in the final visual out of the box. As for the artwork, it went through quite a few drafts before I settled on this choice.
I know this is a difficult question, but do you have a favorite track on this album? Or the one that came most naturally to you?
Sam: Objectively speaking, whether you’re a listener or a composer, we all have one track we like more than another. Isn’t it a bit hypocritical to say you like your whole album equally? It’s easier to point to the track you like least, isn’t it 😉 For me, not necessarily the most natural to compose, but after having been almost completely boned, The Bent Neck Lady revealed itself, one of the most instinctive. And the lyrics speak to me in particular.
Olivier: It’s hard to answer, because each one brings me a completely different emotion. I love the Swiss Army knife feel of Iecur, the depth of The Bent Neck Lady and the madness of An Ungrateful Wreck of Our Ghost Bodies. I tend to say that about every album, but they’re all one piece! The easiest to compose was ? Ajar, because I just sent the bass line and a chord suggestion to Sam and she did it all! For the rest I think An Ungrateful Wreck of Our Ghost Bodies was the easiest to write, as I pretty much did it in one draft. Even though there were a few adjustments after the live tests, it changed very little from the original version.
The question is precisely for Sam: Le point de non-retour is also being released on the Almost Famous label. Is it easier for you to manage everything in-house?
Sam: It’s anything but simple. Because the days are only 24 hours long. But it’s not like managing a band in-house. And that sometimes generates a kind of schizophrenia in me. Almost Famous is a separate structure from the Point Mort project. It’s my 3rd job at the moment… I’d say that Point Mort is my 4th job… But it’s my heart project, the one that doesn’t materially sustain me, but which counts the most 😉 Nevertheless, you’re right to think that we manage a lot of things internally. We’re all control freaks when it comes to video, photography and technical aspects. We’re all control freaks when it comes to video, photos and technique. This is often to the detriment of the pleasure of simply being a musician, but owing our successes solely to ourselves!
I first saw you on stage in 2017, at Motocultor, then at various Parisian venues, but your chaotic stage act has always remained the same. Has your approach to the stage changed? How are you thinking about future live shows?
Sam: I think we’ll always have a bit of that chaotic spontaneity. (Are you talking about spontaneity, because Motoc 2017 = spontaneity = fun bowl in front of 4000 people?). For us, live music is above all direct, sincere and raw. That’s what we like best. But in reality, we’ve already changed quite a few things in our set design. The fact that we’re playing on bigger stages inevitably leads us to ask ourselves questions. Our music has evolved too, and implies new desires. But I think that for us, the most important thing is to be able to transport people, whether we’re playing in the basement of a bar or at a festival.
What are the next projects for Point Mort?
Sam: Play.
Olivier: Play.
Sam: More playing!
Are there any musicians or artists you’d like to collaborate with in the future?
Sam: I’d find it pretty cool to try out a feat. within the project. But I can’t think of anyone in particular. So if you’re interested, let me know 😉
Do you think you’ve improved as a musician and composer with this album?
Sam: Don’t we get better with every album? If not, that would be a shame. I think I’ve improved, yes. Working on scores, thinking in terms of vertical writing, multiplying vocal harmonies, creating synths, locking everything down to the nearest sixteenth note before recording, that’s definitely pulled me up. If you sell music, it’s a job! If you go to classes, internships or work without improving, you’re a wanker, aren’t you? It’s a good thing we’re making progress, it would be disrespectful for the people who take the time to listen to us to say no… Or are you implicitly telling us that some musicians serve us the same soup, without ever questioning themselves 😉
Olivier: As far as I’m concerned, with each new album I try to improve on what I consider to have “failed” or “not gone far enough” on the previous one. I’ve evolved in the way I communicate. Going through a written method on score helps a lot 🙂 As for the compositional aspect, I think I’ve progressed because everything I had in mind was recorded on this album!
The band Point Mort has been active for almost 10 years now. Have you noticed any evolution or changes in the French underground scene? Who do you think will be the bands to watch in France in 2025?
Sam: The scene is teeming with new talent. It’s lively, and you come across the best and the worst. It’s hard to make a place for yourself. But the DIY scene is still going strong. Don’t just listen to the top, the pearls are at the bottom too! Don’t just rely on influencers: what they say isn’t necessarily gospel. Only you know what you really like!
What’s your dream concert? I’ll let you describe it to me, specifying the venue, the scenography, the bands you’d like to accompany you…
Sam: There aren’t just any dream concerts, there are only precious concerts, the ones that really exist, the ones that make you sweat. Those are the dream concerts! Every time we land a date, it’s a success. Because that’s the hardest part, getting a space to express yourself.
That’s my last question, so thank you for your availability, the last words are yours!
Sam & Olivier: Thanks to you, and thanks to all the people who read us here. We look forward to seeing you at a concert!