A Late Night Conversation With Marr Not Meeger
The credits were still rolling when I stepped out into the night, still in that hazy in-between space, not quite in the world of the film and not quite back in my own world. And yet, an email popped up in my inbox from a name that was familiar to me, an artist that I’d written about previously, and it was like that was the thread that connected that stillness of the night to everything that’s been going on in music.
Somewhere in the space between the car and the street lights, Nuit Blanche by Marr Not Meeger started to play in my headphones. The French-English vocals are reminiscent of a diary left open at 4 a.m., an album that deals with desire, guilt, and insomnia in a minimalist, beautiful way, a kind of music that makes you remember why you listen to music in the first place, or write it at all.
“Nuit Blanche” feels like a diary entry set to music. How much of the song came from a real sleepless night, and how much was shaped later in the studio?
To be honest, most of my songs come from sleepless nights. I recorded this one in my apartment in the middle of the night. Though it was re-written and re-arranged multiple times, the production of the track was made in the same atmosphere as the one it evokes.
You switch between French and English in the track. What does each language allow you to express emotionally that the other doesn’t?
The hook (in French) was the first part of the song that I came up with. The term “Nuit Blanche” which refers to a sleepless night literally means “white night”, which I thought had many avenues for creative exploration. As I continued writing, I realised that because I wanted the lyrics to read like a train of thought, it would flow more naturally if it read the same way I think, which is back and forth between French and English. The switch in languages is also a form of protection. Whenever I felt myself getting too vulnerable during the writing process I would switch languages so that people wouldn’t understand the next sentence (unless they’re bilingual, of course).
Compared to “Rotting Away In You” and “I Hate Camping,” this song feels more fragile and confessional. Was that a conscious shift in tone, or did it happen naturally?
I’m working on an album at the moment that loosely follows the journey that your brain goes on when you can’t sleep, therefore I want each song to represent a stage of insomnia. R.A.I.Y and I.H.C are both meant to be more lighthearted points in the record, whereas Nuit Blanche is all about overthinking in the middle of the night.
Insomnia, guilt, desire, self-doubt, these are very internal themes. Do you find it easier to write about your inner world than external experiences?
I often use songwriting as a form of therapy, so in theory yes, however the themes in this track are heavily influenced by external experiences. Whether I’m writing about my feelings, something that happened, or something that didn’t, I always try to center the story around the feelings. That’s what reaches people. Life circumstances vary greatly, but we feel mostly the same things.
Living in Paris as an Irish artist, how has that change in environment influenced your sound or perspective as a songwriter?
I’ve learned so much here in Paris about music and art, as it is such a culturally rich city. I think that the blend of cultures can be heard in my music and it gives me a unique style and perspective. People in France are a lot more into music theory than other places, and that has helped me develop my composition skills. I also think there is a rural vs. metropolitan difference. Paris is so huge and busy, whereas I come from the countryside. Our ears get used to completely different things.
If “Nuit Blanche” were a scene in a film, what would we see and where would the listener be sitting in that moment?
I imagine a kind of ‘Taxi Driver’ atmosphere, someone sitting on a dark street in a car. I also think it could be kind of a trippy chase scene like in ‘Requiem For A Dream’.
