Patrice “Home is what you are to others”

INTERVIEW BY NANE STEINHOFF

20 years of musical journey, nine multi-layered and cross-genre albums and a musician who moves, grows and changes: In November, Patrice released his new album 9 which was created between Kingston, Paris and Berlin. Since the age of 19, Patrice has been moving along his musical path between new releases, energetic live performances and collaborations with well-known artists, always providing creative impulses. He speaks to DISCOVER GERMANY, Switzerland & Austria about his latest album and more.

DISCOVER GERMANY:How did you get into music? How did your breakthrough happen back then?

Patrice: When I was 12, I tried to write a song. When I succeeded, I was very surprised and fulfilled at the same time. At that moment, the course was set for what was to come. I tried out some things and found my style and my voice. At the age of 15, I started writing the first songs that would later end up on my debut album. When a big brother took me to Hamburg and introduced me to Matthias Arfmann, he ended up being my first producer. He encouraged me to show a more personal and imperfect side. After I recorded 17 songs impromptu with my guitar into his microphone, he took one of these songs that was on a labelless Blanco cassette and put it anonymously in the mailbox of his friend and publisher Ale. Ale then started a manhunt in Hamburg because he really wanted to find out who it was on the tape and who had put the cassette in his mailbox. After a week, Arfmann solved the mystery. The city’s record industry was hooked and Ale became my publisher. After all the hype, a record company was also found. As a sign of life, we released an EP with four tracks while I was still at school, which became a sure-fire success in France. I toured with Lauryn Hill and the Black Eyed Peas back then and did TV shows in France when my school hours allowed.

Patrice “Home is what you are to others”

Photo: Universal Music

DISCOVER GERMANY: Congratulations on the new album! How did you come up with the title 9? What was the inspiration for the title?

Patrice: The album is my ninth album. The number nine is also my birth number and for me it also symbolises birth or rebirth in a more universal sense. It is a mystical number that has many deep meanings.

DISCOVER GERMANY: What can fans look forward to on the new album?

Patrice: It’s a new wind. I chose nine out of hundreds of titles. Nine are the condensed experiences and insights of the last seven years.

DISCOVER GERMANY: How has your sound changed since the last album?

Patrice: 9 is probably my most homogeneous album. Everyone hears an album like this differently, which is a good thing. In other words, this is a question that the listener could answer better because I just do it until it feels good and right. There’s a lot of Afro on the album.

9 is out now.

DISCOVER GERMANY: Do you have a personal favourite on the album?

Patrice: Since, as I said, it was selected from many, many titles, these nine titles are all my favourite pieces.

DISCOVER GERMANY: You are at home in Berlin, Paris, Cologne and Kingston. What does ‘home’ mean to you?

Patrice: Home is what you are to others. Only as a father did I get to know the feeling of home.

DISCOVER GERMANY: You lived in Jamaica for some time and built a self-catering oasis with a music studio. To what extent did this time shape you?

Patrice: The time was close to life. Which also means that it was more existential. It was neither a life in a prosperity bubble nor in any bubble. I was down to earth. Also on the pulse of the music I love the most. All of this helped me to develop new perspectives.

DISCOVER GERMANY: To what extent has the European music landscape changed during Covid times? What is important for musicians today?

Patrice: I believe that the way forward for musicians today has to be total independence. The record industry is in the process of being abolished. Courage to have content and real thoughts of your own would be great because there is too much of the opposite. This represents a huge opportunity and gap in the market.

DISCOVER GERMANY: What wishes and dreams do you have for the future?

Patrice: That’s simple: World peace.

DISCOVER GERMANY: What’s planned in 2024? What can we look forward to?

Patrice: I’ll be releasing a new album relatively quickly. There are also new tours coming up in many exciting countries around the world. I’m looking forward to everything that will happen.