Le Hutin’s 26 track album, ‘Love Is The Answer’ came to fruition on June 12th, showcasing the wide range of Le Hutin’s multiple influences. Not willing to be glued to a purely house music release, he keeps house — his favorite genre — as the absolute core of the project, around which everything revolves, keeping the sonic exploration alive. As the album unfolds, you will come across 90s, Garage, UK House, Jazz, Funk, Soul, Hip Hop, Punk Rock, Disco, Latin, and Moroccan influences.
Le Hutin’s music is a mirror of his emotions, life experiences, travels, and personal situations. Late 2023 marked a tough restart after leaving his first project — the De La Groove label and collective he founded and carried out since 2016 — hence the album’s name. He is now standing tall and thriving, bringing music that is true to his soul, real for listeners, and more intimate than ever, with the presence of deeper and more unusual tracks such as an Introduction, Interludes, and an Outro. This is enhanced by the fact that he is recording, post-producing, and creating 99% of his music himself, while also using his own vocals more regularly.
Off the back of his latest album, we sat down with the jazzy Frenchman for a chat and discussed all things ‘Love Is The Answer,’ his French influence, his non-ritual rituals, and more!
WWD: Hi Le Hutin, great to meet you! What’s happening in your world at the minute?
I am sitting on my balcony, watching some cats playing and enjoying a peaceful moment. The world is not going so well right now, but my little world is calm and ready to take the quiz!
WWD: Congratulations on releasing your latest LP ‘Love Is The Answer.’ There are 26 wonderful tracks that make up the LP – quite the body of work. How long did it take you to make and what was the inspiration to release such a big album?
It took me about 2 years to gather all this music together, mix it, and make it ready for the album!
I have been musically raised and educated in a world where albums were the way to do music (2000 to 2018). Not only do I love this format for the depth it can bring, but it is also the best way to embrace my own path as an artist in 2025. Doing an album for an underground artist is uncommon, and doing 26 tracks the same. But as I see the underground world also being a possible dead end to music creativity, I just wanted to walk my own path. 26 tracks allowed me to go and make music I would never consider making or releasing if I were to release a 3 track EP.
I also think it’s fair and honest to say I was willing to swim against the tide a little bit, cause why not ?
WWD: Where did you grow up and how did your environment shape your relationship with music?
I grew up in Blois (41), in the Centre of France, commonly known for being close to Chambord and Castle of The Loire. As I used to be in a bus for 1h two times a day to listen to music hardcore, plus I think the calmness of this environment and the time available help me shape some early taste for dynamic and authentic, genuine music. My name “Le Hutin” in some ways could have been different if I wasn’t born there for some reasons.
Later I can’t quote Paris as I have been living here for 10 years, but it’s also the place where I eventually discovered house music could be more than a fun thing at parties, getting lovestruck on a B2B from MCDE, Jeremy Underground and Floating Point (what a line up). Now I also played there a lot in various venues.
Lastly, one aspect of DJing brings you to travel more, open to new people and considerations, different mindsets ! I am speaking here of France’s mid-cities, Europe, Morocco & Georgia, which also help open up my mind constantly and always be on the hunt for new ideas, recipes, instrumental combo or composition tricks.
WWD: Can you share some insight into your creative process when producing music? Do you have any particular rituals or methods that help you stay inspired?
I usually avoid rituals, which end in a ritual. The more I am surprised by the way a track starts, the more I am happy to make music, usually resulting in my best tracks (according to humble me). I like when the energy feels right, i don’t really care if the BPM shall be set to 127, 145 or 60, as shown in the album. I usually spend a hell lot of time making sure the chord progression, changes, variations and all the tonal aspects are giving me a big thrill, this is really where it starts to take off from a normal session for me !
I can also say I enjoy having a beat dedicated session, where I just set a specific beat I have stuck in my head, which can be very convenient for later purpose or to get going later with full instrumental and one already solid sounding beats. This process is often reused 2 to 5 times in the making of the track, to make sure the rhythm remains well alive and not too loopy / boring, and that the drums sections keep playing as a drummer would do.
That said i have my safe places, using the same synth for years now (Kingkorg almost a decade), having my own audio routing (build around stereo pedals), and a large set of plug ins i grew accustomed to, on top of the unfamous Maschine from NI that has brought me a decade of beatmaking 🙂
One thing I kinda almost use now, is to lay down some atmospheric elements, or call it background elements, like a few live takes covering the entire recording with small elements to keep it all alive and sensitive again.
WWD: Can you describe the connection between your music and your French roots, and how they continue to influence your music today?
I think French have been outsiders in Global music for a long time. We have our heroes, one called Daft Punk for some right and correct reasons. I think French Touch or Jazz French Touch (St Germain) have created their own path by going pirate on the ways of making, on the inspiration, on many aspects.
So i can only say this part of the french music i love, and the elder generations of solo singers or RAP Crew (Aznavour, Reggiani, Ferret, Renaud, MC Solaar, Funky Family) also transfer to me a deep interest and culture for rich music, flavorful story telling. In Addition to my early English inspirations (Arctic Monkeys, Eminem, Mac Miller, Linkin Park, Sum41), it had to end up as some kind of crazy mix of all.
The good news is that I can’t sing properly, so I mostly transmit that into whatever music fusion could work, which I see as a way of the French Touch for 3 decades in electronics.
WWD: As someone deeply rooted in the House scene, what state is it in right now? What notable artists are emerging?
I think the state of house and electronics is weird right now. It’s somehow good and bad at the same time. Underground music or so called is trying hard to become commercial, growing up requires heavy social media and networking and time as a whole.
I kinda wish we could go back to that 90’s era we praise so much these days, but also with the right direction on how things could work. I would love to see more artists walking their own path, doing their music as genuinely as possible, and not trying to stick to a genre or a playlist potential too hard.
That said, music creativity has exploded and access to music creation is almost easy today (production, composition, writing, recording, even mastering). It would be wrong to say it costs nothing yet, but the cost has never been that easy to grab in the history of humanity, which is insanely good. On top of that, there are a solid bunch of artists who are taking their “artistic side” more clearly and are doing crazy good music.
I could quote a few like Teuteu that I am happy to see growing and emerging on a serious music lane, Sam Deeley for the UK scene that has grown quite massive today, Close Counters for the Australian scene; or my good old pal on the Basics Recording project Heritage Listed who’s writing great emotional house music these days
WWD: What’s been the highlight of your career so far?
I will have to split my answer in a few sections.
I would say being able to host or sign on vinyl artists that I dreamed of doing so (Grant Nelson, Atjazz, Jimpster, Folamour, COEO, Black Loops, Don Carlos, more to come soo..) is a way to make dreams come true.
On a more personal level, carrying a music label of music I love and gathering people is a daily highlight in my life – and probably headlining a party in Tbilisi was something I never would have expected in my life.
WWD: When you are not busy with music, what might we find you doing?
Well there are a lot of things that I love and bring balance to my life alongside music. From cooking, walking the world around, or the nearest park, riding the road on a bike or on a skateboard; having deep talks and good parties/dinner with friends; spending time with the close ones and the family, keep the body and the mind as balanced as possible. I usually try to keep a solid balance of all of this in my life, that is what is making me happy. As I usually say and love this quote “Don’t try to be the best, try to be as good as possible.”
Finally, what do you have coming up in the next few months? Feel free to mention anything!
So as I have this album of 26 tracks ready for 12th of June, I might probably hit a small break on release before going back hard and heavy by September. I also just released a DJ set on Jaguar House (amazing channel) if you want to see me spin some music. There are obviously gigs coming in Paris, France, Georgia, and those that might come around (Istanbul, Madrid, Barcelona, Mliano, Geneva, Amsterdam).
It’s all updated on my IG if you want to know more 😉
WWD: Congrats on the album and well-deserved break! Thanks for the chat 🙂
The ‘Love is the Answer LP’ is available here