Justice : a Visual Cross Story

Justice was born from this musical wave generally called “french touch”, emerged in the 2000’s. This definition is “absolutely idiot”, Quentin Dupieux (Mr. Oizo) tells, considering the variety of music styles experimented at this time (going from Kavinsky and M83 to Cassius, just to quote some). “I can’t see the link between Air and Cassius, a part of their common passion for scarves” he says.

Anyway, Ed Banger, Pedro Winter’s recording label, undeniably contributed launching something new and strong. It maybe is the prosecution of the innovations started during the 90ies. Justice came from this context, this historical moment where the ‘rock ’n’ roll’ spirit has been personified by electro music.

“It is their 3rd album, a very important moment for them. They also celebrate their 14 years as a duo. However, I don’t think we can really define it as a turning point” Pedro Winter says. Pedro Winter is the man who revealed to the world some brilliant (and a little bit shy) musicians, such as Mr. Oizo, Justice and Daft Punk.

“They did a very coherent route, I think. They are very constant in their collaborations”, and indeed, the last Justice album has been realized with some good old friend like Charlotte Delarue (graphic designer) or Thomas Jumin (Randy). The last videoclips could have been done 5 years ago, and it still sounds Justice.

Therefore, there is a major question to ask to understand their incredible success story : how they get to surprise us every time ? How to approach this new opus, Woman ? Did they really change so much ?

As very often in music, the answer isn’t really about music. Pedro Winter already gave us some clue. What clearly makes the difference is the universe a band is surrounded by. Ed Banger founder understood quite quickly how to help his friends to create a strong storytelling.

However, “the group is the real manager. It is a global project, the album is not the only vector of pleasure. The videoclips, the concerts, even the promotion of the project are a fundamental part of the artistic idea. For instance, to create a giant fresco in the streets of Brooklyn is clearly more exciting than doing a digital communication campaign” explains Pedro Winter.

The visual part of a music group is not only a ‘makeup’ issue. “In the course of time, we learned that more than produce beautiful stuff, it is important to make it meaningful” says Xavier de Rosnay, Justice member. To discuss image with Justice is a passionating experience, a trip into a myriad of references, names and over-talented graphic designers and engineers who contributed making this music really powerful.

The first unmissable name to understand Justice is Charlotte Delarue, artistic director, creator of their albums covers. Charlotte met Xavier and Gaspard at the art school, therefore the guys well knew her sense of perfection and her incredible creativity. For Pedro Winter, she is the only one who is able to really challenge the duo.

“She simply does not mistakes, while nowadays you can find imperfections even in huge advertising, in magazines, packaging some logos. She is one of the rare graphic designers we know who works in such a precise way” Xavier explains.

“In fact, she knows the rules. Today in France we lost this savoir-faire. We see a lot of graphic rubbish“ states Gaspard.

“For the cover of the last album, Woman, we have been inspired by a picture very similar to that (he points the album cover). We just gave it to her and she found the way of realizing the artwork. She basically did a photomontage. Then, she collaborated with Adrien Blanchat, a genius of digital painting. He painted all again by using an aerograph. She then worked with a brilliant museum photographer, Jérémy Beylard. We know him since a long time. He takes artworks’ pictures to make catalogs. He gave a completely different texture to the picture by keeping a distance between the camera and the image. It is airier” Xavier de Rosnay illustrates accurately.

Charlotte Delarue gave us her vision of Justice. “When the guys came to see us (Surface to Air, her design studio) for their second album, they had a name in mind, “Civilization”, and a picture : a group of archeologist standing beside an enormous Easter Island statue. This has been the starting point. From there, we defined a concept for all the future albums and songs : crosses located everywhere in the world (and even on the moon!), as a testimony of a lost civilization.

But, we wanted these images to be realistic. That is why we chose to use more photography than illustration. This has been the most significative change between the first and the second album”.

Big fans of studio Hypnosis, their idea of the perfect album cover resembles the one of T-Rex, Electric Warrior, or Led Zeppelin, House of the Holy.

Another important personality in Justice story is Romain Gavras, a celebrated and contested film-maker, author of some very audacious videos, like the one of “Stress” for Justice, or “Born free” for M.I.A.

According to Pedro Winter, Gavras had the ability to encourage Xavier and Gaspard in their craziest artistic projects, bringing a more radical vision to the project. He embodies a kind of violent aspect of Justice, even if it does not have to be taken to seriously.

Gaspard, talking about Gavras : “There is a super violent aspect that is however always very beautiful. We thought that this aesthetic vision, that is completely different from what we are and what we do, could create a quite interesting contrast”.

“We started to think about Stress together, because it simply was the right sound to work with him. He has a kind of need of breaking taboos but in the same time, he is sensible, as un artist and as a human. Stress has been written to be inaudible, therefore the clip had to be aggressive“ precise Gaspard.

Another important figure to understand Justice videos repertoire, is, of course, Thomas Jumin.

You probably remember the crazy clip of DVNO in 2011 and you maybe recently seen the one for Randy. This video is quite interesting because it makes us think about Justice precision in the use of lights. As we will see, lights had largely contributed to affirm Justice style.

“For Randy, we wanted a very detailed lyrics video. We know Jumin since ten years, so we knew that he will perfectly understand our needs. He realized the video in only three weeks, it’s crazy. He did even more than what we asked him but we were sure of him” Gaspard says.

DVNO or D.A.N.C.E. clips reveal another strong feature of Justice world : the role of typography. How do they use it ? Which are their references ?

“For us, the golden age of typography was in the 1970’s. After, during the 80s and 90s, people started to deconstruct everything” explains Xavier.

“However, we are starting to open us to younger artists that are over-talented. For instance, I like the work of David Rudnick, who comes from a different school. His sensibility goes to the 90s. He really sublimated the moment where computer fonts emerged”.

As former graphic designers, Xavier and Gaspard chosen as their collaborators the best names in the sector, having all a common point : an incredible ability to transform abstract ideas in very strong visuals.

“When we were at school, we did not understand why we had to do a briefing note. We just wanted to do pretty stuff. But when you work on a music, you want images that perfectly fit with the feeling your music produces. No matter if they are beautiful or not. By working on Justice, we understood that the concept is more important than the appearance. The notion of beauty is not the crucial element in a good artwork. The most important is the coherence” continues Gaspard.

Talking about coherence, Caroline Delarue goes deeper : “I’ve always worked with artists for who the visual is as important as music. Kavinsky, Chromeo and Justice are all very careful about graphic design. Often, they thought about it while composing music. It goes together”.

And finally, the fundamental name is SO ME, artistic director and close friend of the duo. According to the legend, he introduced the guys to Pedro Winter and instantly became a true member of the band. His draws are the main element in D.A.N.C.E. clip.

“Bertrand is our oldest common friend. He has always been there. When we recorded the album, he was often at the studio. He has an incredible musical ear and he has a lot of references. He often advised us and he also did our first press photos. We have the same tastes. We were in the same school, we developed our visual sense together” Gaspard relates.

Inspired by the Japanese Tadanori Yokoo, SO ME work is raffinate and poetic, fitting with Justice harmonious universe. This is what Charlotte Delarue calls “the romantic side of Justice”. Naive and very focused on handmade drawing, SO ME style brings softness, creating a necessary contrast with Gavras’ conception.

Pedro Winter gives some more elements to describe the graphic design inspirations of Justice : “The french touch of graphic design was composed by H5, Alexandre Courtes, Yorgo Tloupas, Geneviève Gauckler, Seb Janiak, and it has been developed in parallel with musical french touch at the beginning of the 90s. Some years later, we recreate it thanks to Ed Banger and SO ME”.

Concerts are the moments where all this complex machine finally interacts directly with people. It is the result of the magic equation. There is no more filter between the public and the music.

Lights are therefore an art that Justice learned to use perfectly thanks to the help of another genius, the engineer Vincent Lerisson.

Far from a classical electronic music show, Lerisson takes his inspiration from theater, with its traditions and codes. The briefing is always the same : white light with some spot of colors sometimes to wake up the dance floor. New technologies are a key part of the job, but uniquely as a light source. A screen is chosen for its precision, not to show images.

“Vincent has a memory mad and he is a very precise person. People think that music controls the lights during our performances, which is time-coded. But no, it is he who swings everything in his hand. He knows how to react with us, live is the third member of the group” explains Xavier.

Music, graphic design, video and lights : maybe, the last Justice border is cinema. A part from Gaspard Augé collaboration with Quentin Duplex on Rubber, the duo has not still followed this route.

“With Gaspard, we did it together. He composed his sounds on Garage band, I invented the musical aesthetic, beats, mixes and arrangements, then, we finalized together and we were happy. Gaspard brought a very cool touch to the movie, something really powerful that I did not found again” relates Quentin Dupieux.

For Pedro Winter, it is just a question of time. The group will surely do something with cinema, maybe for a Jacques Audiard or Darren Aronofsky movie.

This visual journey inside Justice story terminates with an unusual opening. The duo undeniably pushed far the international electronic scenario. After them, new talents emerge and it is impossible not to talk about the new french rock scene. It is funny to see that Justice arrived even there, gently and surely.

They laugh sweetly seeing a picture taken from La Femme clip of Sphynx. 

“I see. It reminds you On’n’On, isn’t it ? Well, we were inspired from other clips too, sometimes without to realize it. We are glad to be maybe an influence for them. I also have to say that their album cover is the best of the year for me. It’s a Tanino Liberatore’s illustration. I have to confess that I’m quite jealous” Xavier smiles.

When a music band lasts during 14 years, people absolutely want to know how it evolved, how it changed. It is because the majority of the artistic projects put at the center of their quest only one obsessive question : how to renew themselves? However, not so many ask how to just remain themselves. How to create constancy and loyalty, how to produce coherence. Justice perfect integrity is the strongest part of their message. A winning formula, a subtle equation that overpasses time. This formula, is not only about music. It is about people that understand it and transform it in a universe.

All Justice’s visual Odyssey is perfectly sum up in these very exclusive cliches from Toni Francois. Shot in Mexico on March 19th, these new pictures describes with an incredible precision lights layout and scene setting. In an almost clerical atmosphere, Justice spreads his sound enveloped by clouds of white beams. A mystical experience translating the power of visual virtuosity and the importance of delivering messages touching all human emotions. To follow all Justice’s news, have a look at the world tour dates here.