Los Angeles duo Paco Versailles release their debut album 'Dancemenco' today, a collection of songs they have shared over the past year or so, along with the aptly-titled new single "Something New". Comprised of singer and musician Ryan Merchant, who was one half of the band Capital Cities and flamenco guitarist/musician Vahagni, their sound effortlessly blends folk elements of Spain with hypnotic electronic. It's bright and at times dreamy, with hints of Hall & Oates, Steve Winwood, and Phil Collins, with occasional horns, flutes, and other instrumentation rounding out the sound. 

"Something New" (out today) is a minimalistic nu-disco/funk jam that further solidifies Paco Versailles' sound and energy of spontaneity and not overthinking as creators. Ryan and Vahagni spoke with IndieWavves about their formation in 2019 after a successful LA show, how their worldly experiences in music and life shaped Paco Versailles and how they are bringing the fun back to music.

IndieWavves: Vahagni and Ryan, how did you guys meet and pair up for Paco Versailles in the first place?

Ryan: We actually met through Capital Cities; I think it was 2016. Capital Cities was doing some touring, and we needed a new guitar player and my partner in Capital Cities suggested Vahagni, and he ended up touring for a while. We became great friends while touring, and we stayed in touch over the years and would hang out and work on music. We always had this vision of melding the flamenco on his end and the dancey French touch on my end. I was throwing these parties at a very small venue in LA called The Peppermint Club in 2019, and we put out our first song, "Unwind", in June 2019. It was a cool, small venue where I could test out different musical ideas. That's when we first combined dance music with flamenco, and it went over really, really well. I was standing in the audience, my vocals were on the backing track, and it felt amazing from an audience perspective. We didn't even have the name Paco Versailles, and here we are now, almost one-and-a-half years later.

IW: "Your Love" beautifully captures that flamenco guitar, infectious percussion, and the feeling of bouncing between your moniker's two symbolic borders, Spain or France. It's a total breeze for 2021, a sound that we probably all need. It sounds like at least a 5-person band. Who plays all of these instruments?

Vahagni: We play everything except the drums. We sometimes send it out and get sessions done, but for the most part, there's a lot of synths, bass guitars, handclaps. When it's flamenco guitars, I'll play them, but with vocals, it's Ryan. I might pick up the bass; Ryan might pick it up. He and I both play the keys. Someone may pick up a wine bottle and a pen for some percussion.

My father was a professional classical guitarist, and he had a big love and infatuation with flamenco and guitar in general, so it's always been in my life. I started playing when I was nine, legitimately, like serious lessons. My dad was a pretty strict teacher. Flamenco is probably my core when it comes to how I approach the instrument. I lived in Andalusia, and I studied in Córdoba with some famous guitarists. I got my master's from CalArts, learning from some classical and jazz guitarists.

Ryan: As a vocalist, I started becoming interested in the idea of performing from a very young age from about five years old; I was obsessed with Michael Jackson. Back in 1985, it was the thing to do as a child. He was the one who turned me on to becoming a performer. I grew up in San Francisco and lived a couple of years in Spain for a whole year in 7th grade and Paris during my last two years of high school. I started singing when I was probably in high school, and I wasn't very good at it, but I just loved performing and writing and playing music. I just continued doing it. I performed in cover bands, did jingle writing, and met my partner in Capital Cities.

V: My grandfather was born in Marseille. Everyone lives in this town, Troyes in the Champagne region - I was visiting them since I was a kid. I think between the two of us; there's a lot of Spanish and French nostalgia.

IW: "Something New" is your brand new single, out today along with your debut album 'Dancemenco'. "Something New" is like that time when funk was blending into disco. How did this song come together?

R: I would say with this song, compared to some of our others, we tried to take a slightly more minimal approach to the production. Most of our stuff happens very quickly - we are in this very creative, prolific mode of not getting stuck on things too much. We had been listening to a lot of Chic records. We noticed on some of those records, the drums, the track's movement doesn't come from percussion and hi-hats but more of the musical elements that are sort of dancing together. We had very minimal hi-hats and percussion. There was a lot more keyboard, and it doesn't have as much guitar. It was a more minimal approach. It feels like it was meant to be written. It just felt effortless.

V: Right before we wrote that, we had a philosophical question on what is nothing, and I can't wrap my head around that. We were just in that rabbit hole of what is nothing. After that, Ryan wrote the verses, which I think was really cool cause it has somewhat of a philosophical message. Going back to the stylistic aspect of it, it's a simple beat, and it doesn't have the change with lots of flashy fills. It's like riding a wave, and it feels good.

IW: It certainly sounds like something we all need right now, doesn't it?

R: I think it definitely speaks to the times. We've been in this crazy year of losing so much. Personally losing my dad, not because of COVID, but right before the pandemic hit. Music and concerts have not been happening, and that hasn't been happening for us. Right now, there is a lot of optimism in the world, and things are looking up. The song kind of reflects that in a way, and there's a reason we wrote it - it's a little bit ambiguous. The more I've become a songwriter, listening to many songwriters, things don't have to make perfect logical sense. A lot of times, it's just about capturing a feeling.

V: You can have something in art that's definitive and clean and simple, and then you have the abstract, and it can go either way. I think when we write, we don't just have to go either way.

R: It's more just a new perspective on life. Vahagni also lost his father a couple of years before, in a very similar fashion. Our dads both passed away from heart attacks. That's bonded us, this shared experience. It really does affect your outlook profoundly.

IW: Your music videos for songs like "Your Love", "Alive", "Je T'aime", "Gemini", and "Unwind" seem to take on specific color palettes, and you have really developed a brand that is succinct but also has a fluidity to it.

V: It definitely is a collective thing. It's not just audio, and it's not just the visuals. It's about trying to capture the whole feeling. We try to have the vignette be something in our heads, and it just needs to convey that. We go out, and we kind of wing it with a friend of ours, Tony Tomasino. There's not too much prep or planning or scripting. The one we did for "Brave New World", we just wanted a couple of girls who are really good at skateboarding in Venice, and that's that.

R: It's very easy when writing music to get wrapped up in making it perfect and having something of the moment. This project is actually the complete opposite, like who gives a shit about the song's structure. I think the first song we really worked on for that show is "Shangri La," but the song doesn't have a typical verse, chorus, bridge structure - it has this kind of lush outro where the title of the song comes out. It's a very liberating project. It just has to be fun and dancey. Vahagni on guitar and my voice and trying to say something evocative.

MORE: Five Fun Facts with Paco Versailles

Written by Michael Menachem

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