Hailing from France, 2smile is a Marseille-based duo that consists of two long-time friends and collaborators who share the love for electronic music and showcase their passion through this new project that offers the best of Melodic Techno & House. This time around, the duo is delivering a new single titled “Nuage” on their own label Ondawey Music.

We caught up with 2smile to talk about their latest release “Nuage”, studio essentials, influences, and more.

WWD: Hey guys! Thanks for joining us today. How’s your summer been so far?

Great! We’re exactly where we’re supposed to be.

WWD: You have a new single Nuage coming out on your own label Ondawey on June 23rd. What was your inspiration behind this track?

Nuage was the first track we created during the stay-home period. It was a very difficult time for artists, so we wanted to escape and keep alive the hope of a better day, and that’s what gave us the melody. This track kept us together despite the distance as we are one in Marseille and the other in Barcelona. The track went back and forth in the cloud, which is why it’s called Nuage (cloud).

WWD: How did you meet, and whose idea was it to put out music together as 2smile?

We’re old friends and have been working together for almost 20 years and collaborating with our different first labels ‘Okupe Prod’ and ‘Metek’. After seeing a lot of success in the Hard Techno scene, we felt the need to produce a different style of music, like an artistic evolution. Without realizing it, we both turned to deep and melodic techno at the same time. But what made us want to work together was our similar musical energy. We did a first test with a track and realized that our different compositional techniques were very complimentary. In fact, that track is Nuage! When we listened to the result, we wanted to pool everything. Given the respect and friendship we have for each other, we thought it could only be a great adventure together. Then our name came very quickly. One had a kind of revelation with “ít’s time to smile” (characteristic of our state of mind and the energy we want to give) but the name was far too long, so the other just said “2smile….”. And the adventure took off.

WWD: Growing up, what were some of your musical influences that you think have shaped your taste in music?

We both came from the underground music scene and for a long time, we produced only Hard Techno music. Our electronics influences came from Belgian and German acid techno, Detroit underground as resistance techno, but also the spiral tribe for their innovative music and their do it yourself philosophy. As we delve into our soul, afro, and acid house influences, we’re reminded of the trance of Fela Kuti, one of our guiding lights and a true master of both music and politics: “Music is a weapon, a tool for revolution”. Today we’re following artists such as Rodriguez Jr, Oliver Koletzki, Keinemusik, and stuff like that.

WWD: What are some studio essentials that make up your trademark sound?

We’ve set up our own studio in Marseille where we’ve brought together our different machines, giving us access to several working methods and a multitude of sound colors. We particularly like the Moog Voyager for his warm basslines but what we love most is being mobile and composing through our travels with Maschine studio. We can take inspiration from the magical moments we experience and fix it with music.
Ondawey is your own label which you have used as a platform to release music independently.

WWD: What has been your experience running a label, and what is your vision for this project?

We both created our own Hard Techno labels around 2000 where we produced more than hundreds of releases on vinyl only. Labels that are still alive today. Around 2015 we both created also our first digital labels, Dive In Records and Champ’Caine Records, then around 2020 we started thinking of creating a stronger & structured platform, under the label ‘Ondawey Music’, including Consultants, Lawyer, Accountant, Investor, sound engineers, technicians, performers and assistants to be able to distribute our music without any constraints, to develop and produce our own events everywhere as we both organized many big events around but also to produce other artists from our entourage on the best conditions as possible.

WWD: Where can people expect to see you perform live this summer?

From July until November, we’ll be in Ibiza in a private studio area working on our next projects and releases so we plan to play at a few private parties over there. We have a secret place, a kind of laboratory, to test our latest productions every weekend. We also have been invited to a big underground festival in the Czech Republic.

WWD: What else are you working on that you can share?

Lots of other projects are on their way. This summer we’ll be working with two amazing singers, we also have a project to finish, in particular, an afro tech house bootleg composed during our last stay in Ibiza featuring two other French producers that we quickly want to send to some DJs. As we produce so many different styles, we always try to constantly surprise ourselves… Then in September, we’ll officially release something new every month then.

WWD: Is there a message that you would like to share with the world?

Despite the difficulties in the world today, music nourishes hope, and helps us to connect with others and, above all, with ourselves. Let’s be happy with what we’ve achieved and project ourselves forward. We must always believe in our dreams and give ourselves the means to make them come true. It’s time to smile 🙂

2smile – Nuage is out now on Ondawey Music: Buy/Stream