From DIY Beginnings to Tokyo Dreams: A Journey with Tapeworms
In an era where genre-bending is the new normal, Tapeworms stands out as a band that effortlessly weaves together lo-fi charm with polished electronic production. What began as a teenage friendship between Theo and Margot—armed with nothing more than guitar arrangements, a bass guitar, and unreliable wifi—has evolved into one of indie pop's most intriguing acts.
Their latest album, Grand Voyage, arrives at a pivotal moment for the band, coinciding with their relocation to Tokyo—a physical journey that mirrors the sonic exploration embedded in their music. The album represents years of growth, from their shoegaze beginnings to their current incarnation as self-described "cyber band" experimentalists who delight in manipulating samples and reviving the nostalgic sounds of FM synthesizers.
Between the constraints of lockdown creativity and their embrace of children's samplers alongside sophisticated production techniques, Tapeworms has crafted a sound that balances technical precision with deliberate imperfection. As they navigate themes of alienation, dehumanization, and the transformation of dreams into reality, the band offers listeners an escape route from the mundane—all while documenting their own grand voyage from DIY roots.
REVERIE caught up with Tapeworms to discuss their creative evolution, their relationship with technology, and how their relocation to Japan has shaped their musical identity.
REVERIE: Who are Tapeworms and what is the origin story? How would you describe yourselves/the music you make?
Tapeworms started as a teenage grungy friends band, when Theo and Margot met. Back then, Theo had some guitar arrangements hanging around in his head for a while, and Margot happened to have a bass standing in the corner of her student room. Pretty soon, the online generated drum machine and unreliable wifi connection weren’t enough anymore, so Elio joined us on the drums—giving Tapeworms its complete sound.
I would say Tapeworms is an indie pop music band that enjoys manipulating samples, playing on old fm synths, and experimenting with different music genres’ codes while aiming for both melancholic and fun songs.
REVERIE: "Pitch Pop" balances polished electronic production with raw, imperfect elements. Can you talk about the tension between perfectionism and spontaneity in your music?
Well, actually, I don’t think there is tension between these two because we are naturally inclined to mix both together! Tapeworms comes from a very DIY culture. We are not rich kids so we have always made do with what was accessible equipment-wise, during our spare time and with some skill limitations. Though it was not chosen, that led us to a specific sound full of lo-fi elements that has stuck with us since the beginning. Also, spontaneity might come from the fact that we are not super technical musicians and we love the nostalgia that remains behind failed takes, lo-fi field recordings, and naive melodies—so we tend to keep them and blend them into the final product.
That said, I think we’ve always had big visions of what we wanted to do every time we’ve worked on a release, so we tend to spend a long, long time on achieving it, trying hard to improve our skills in order to make it all happen. Grand Voyage is no exception to the rule ! Since Funtastic, we’ve been thinking of a much more produced opus with polished pop music arrangements.
REVERIE: Your press release mentions that being physically separated during lockdown changed your compositional approach. How did those limitations affect the final result of your project?
That period might have been decisive in the shift we took for a more electronic and software produced album, desacralizing the systematic use of real instruments. We didn’t really think about the live interpretation, for example, while composing the songs on the album, so that means much more possibilities (and amazing live set up experimentations)!
Theo also used most of his free time to teach himself music software and we slowly equipped ourselves with controllers and sequencers. The further we went, the more we wanted to sound like a cyber band ! It also allowed us to think about moments of reunion and creative residencies, which we never had before, and they turned out pretty productive.
REVERIE: What inspired the shift from your Stereolab-influenced shoegaze to incorporating more electronic elements like FM synths and children's samplers?
FM synths and children’s samplers were there from the beginning ! I think the effects of lock down that we just mentioned, coupled with our longing for sound crafting and polish pop vibes, got us into more electronic songs. And that naturally goes with our music opening since our shoegazy debuts.
REVERIE: The album title Grand Voyage seems to parallel your actual relocation to Japan. Was this intentional, and how has living in Tokyo influenced the final touches on the album?
The name Grand Voyage came almost at the end of the work on the album so I think we already knew we were leaving. But in a way it is also reflecting the long path we took to compose it since mid 2020, and probably how much we’ve grown up since then. Settling in Tokyo we had already finished the album, so, except the visual identity, everything was made anticipating our arrival here. But as the departure date approached, the idea of following the release of Grand Voyage while being away felt manifest. We thought about documenting it with a blog and some mini dv content and capitalizing on our own little “big travel” that is finally happening after many years of preparation makes so much sense to us.
REVERIE: The album seems to touch on themes of alienation and dehumanization in environments. How do your personal experiences inform these perspectives?
Well, growing up can be tough and feel incomplete. Longing for connection or going through some emotive dead end phases happens to each of us, so it naturally comes out when writing lyrics. Confronting yourself to some social expectations, facing financial or psychological issues or feeling damaged by the working environment for example, are all very random, yet real and severe experiences that can leave you a little bit broken. Also these days are really terrifying to live in and projecting itself into this future while having the impression of fighting it is quite disturbing and we feel all concerned.
REVERIE: Are there any specific artists or references that you look to for inspiration, especially when making Grand Voyage?
Yes, a lot ! We listen to a lot of Japanese music and I think for Grand Voyage, especially the interludes’ environment and the global narration, we got huge inspiration from Doopee Time by Doopees and Shiseikatsu by Miki Nakatani. We also often dig into a lot of video game OST and lores. Roommania#203 as well as Vib-Ribbon were big discoveries for us during the making of Grand Voyage. Visually, we got inspired by Hideaki Anno’s Love & Pop movie and Michel Gondry’s ads he made for Air France.
REVERIE: You mention using "inexpensive, children-oriented samplers" in your production. What specific instruments or toys can you not live without or that make Tapeworms sonically come to life?
Yamaha PSS <3 & Ableton actually!
REVERIE: Grand Voyage is described as encouraging listeners to transform dreams into reality. What are some of Tapeworms dreams that you'd like to see come into reality? Or have they already?
Honestly i think the release of this album is a dreamy achievement for every Tapeworms’ member so we are super happy to put it out into the world! Also of course, being in Japan and working on the promotion here is incredible. I mean, we are working right now on some live arrangements for a Tower Records showcase and it feels like making some childhood dreams come true!
REVERIE: What's next? Live dates? Maybe hit up Canada? (we'd love that!).
Yes! We really want to promote the album live now! Living in Tokyo for a few more months, we have some shows scheduled here and we are super excited about it. We hope to have the opportunity to tour in some many other countries around the world later this year and of course Canada would be so amazing!