Kimotion

Kimotion are brimming with confidence and arguably working on the best music of their career so far. Next in line to electronic dance music's elite, Kimotion come from a rich and exotic musical heritage. From a young age, brothers Andy and Charlie Nguyen Kim were introduced to the different worlds of sound by their father, who taught them guitar, bass, keyboard and drums. 'He played with a lot of feeling, and he taught us that from the age of three, starting with the drums" Charlie states.

Even though learning to play music under their father's tutelage was testing at times, they've carried a number of key philosophies forward from his lessons. 'Our father always taught us that when you make music, you have to be perfect – perfection is still very important to us". Their energetic live show is a testament to their years of working the live circuit: 'We started directly playing on stage because when we played with our father, it was just like working. We prepared a show with our father onstage. He wanted us to work a lot, we were onstage very young."

This professional outlook helped push the brothers beyond humble shows with their father and led them to a number of new collaborative projects; beginning with Butterfly – a rock band with Andy playing the drums and Charlie as the frontman, playing guitar and singing. Wider success came for the Nguyen Kim brothers with their second act, Shaolin. Their music was built upon a diverse blend of trip hop, electro and hip hop and resulted in a stark departure from their previous projects. Taking Shaolin on the road, Charlie and Andy honed their live skills even further, beco- ming masters of their craft across shows in their home country of France, as well as London, Cam- bridge, Budapest and Hô Chi Minh City.

2009 led to the brothers' musical identity changing again, this time under new moniker, The Kim. Fully realising their chemistry onstage, Charlie and Andy broke away from a typical band format and started to perform as a duo, with their folk-pop guise giving them room to embrace their Viet- namese and French heritage for the first time. The project was a huge success, seeing them sign to Warner in 2012 to form the blueprint for what would later become Kimotion.

After ending The Kim, the brothers searched for a new start, drawing on inspiration that they previously hadn't been able to explore. 'We love mainstream music. When we were in a band before, we couldn't make anything that sounded like the mainstream. In France, it's not seen as cool to make it" Charlie explains, 'Now we're able to make whatever we want, no matter how influenced by mainstream music, and that makes us very happy."

After deciding to name their new project Kimotion, the duo played on the impact that their fusion of styles would ultimately have on the electronic music world. 'We're sure this project will cause a commotion in the dance scene. We come from a varied background and we wanted to show a way to tie this all together", they explain.

Their sound is firmly rooted in the here and now too, using their rich history in alternative forms of music as well as influences in rock music and pop to provide a refreshing twist on dance music's current formula: 'In Kimotion, we want to play modern music. We always follow the evolu- tion of popular music because it's really interesting for us how it progresses. We constantly try to discover new kinds of music, and with Kimotion we want to use our past to our advantage. With electronic music, you can mix so many elements; rock, folk, pop, sometimes hip hop... there's a lot of emotion and melody.

There's no more important forum for Kimotion to project this emotion than on the live stage, somewhere where they feel most at home: 'Our first show was in a restaurant to about 100 people. The second was in a theatre to around 500 people. When we have lots of people to play to, it's easier for us – it's more natural." Using electronic music as the initial tapestry, Kimotion bring their live show to life by exhibiting their deft technical skills onstage; 'It's not always exclusi- vely electronic. We can play guitar and drums, so the possibilities are endless!". And in summer 2015 Kimotion did indeed bring their unique sound to none other than Ushuaia in Ibiza where they played to tens of thousands at several of the venue ́s top nights. Playing both warm up slots and peak time sets throughout the season at David Guetta ́s 'Pool Position", Martin Garrix ́s 'Multiply", Hardwell ́s 'Carnival" and at Axwell and Ingrosso ́s event also – this talented duo have already made waves in the worlds clubbing mecca.

A product of their lives' work, Kimotion are now preparing also to make a lasting mark on the worldwide dance music landscape: 'For us, Kimotion is a live discovery, but creating this music isn't new to us. We've made this music step by step, so while playing it is new, it's also natu- ral. It's a logical progression" explains Charlie. 'For us, Kimotion is a great culmination of everything we've worked on. It's a perfect final project. It's a way we can add all of the genres that we've touched them and put them under one umbrella".
'Mainstream music for us is perfection – just like my father said. It's efficient, but there's lots of melody and that's something that we love to give and love to share." They attribute this to their open-minded attitude towards all their influences. 'When we played rock music, we were popular in our city – lots of our friends really liked us, but they were more interested by indie music becau- se they saw it as better. We played indie music, but our minds were open to other forms. It's impor- tant to us to listen to lots of different kinds of music because you're free."

With this confidence matched by their optimism for the future, Kimotion are keen to share their enthusiasm for the imminent influx of new music over the coming months. Even though their prospects look bright too, the Nguyen Kim brothers keep their feet on the ground, patiently waiting for the success that awaits them: 'Honestly, we couldn't predict where we will be five or ten years from now, but we want to keep making our music, playing shows and see where this goes step by step. It's an adventure."