French producer Sam Tiba has just released his sophomore EP, ‘Samuel’ on Brodinski’s own label, Bromance. He’s heading down to Australia next month, and we decided to get to know him a little better beforehand. As one of the four horsemen of the notorious Club Cheval (see what I did there?) he shared the same manager as Brodinski and Gesaffelstein and, hollowing the success of his debut EP, he found his way from Pelican Fly home to Cashmere Cat and Lido) onto Bromance.

“It’s like a real family,” he says of Bromance. “Brodinski’s one of my best friends, Myd [Club Cheval] is producing his new album, we’re always together. Such good vibes, and they’re so professional.”

His latest release, a three-track EP, has a lot more melodic depth than some of the recent Bromance records, which can be attributed to the emotional charge behind the writing process. “So much was happening that made me re-write new tracks and throw out old ones,” he reflects. “I ended up with three tracks that are really personal.”

Tiba is heading to Australia next month, but it’s not the first time he’s visited these shores – he played Stereosonic alongside his Bromance label-mates in 2012. While he preferred the smaller club shows he played in Sydney in Melbourne, he fondly remarked on the “really buff, really beefy guys” who filled the Stereo dance-floors!

I asked about Australian producers, and after name-dropping all the right folk (Flume, Waveracer, Motorik Records etc) we got talking about the so-called ‘Australian Sound.’ Interested in the idea, I asked if there was something similar in France;

“It’s not a sound, but I think French music is a bit more melodic,” he says. “French people are obsessed with house and other genres with big melodies. When you hear Daft Punk or Justice, it’s really melodic and epic.” And while he can’t define it specifically, he reckons he’d know a French tune if he heard one. “There’s a huge scene in Paris. So many labels are doing so many different things, but with the same energy.

“So yeah, I think there’s a French sound, but I couldn’t put words on it.”

One thing he apparently doesn’t wanna hear in French music is, surprisingly (to me anyway), the language. “It’s beautiful,” he says, “but it’s not a musical language. I don’t listen to much French music to be honest. I don’t feel like French is made for music – unlike English.”

So what does he listen to, then?

“Hip hop, R&B, and Japanese music. Japanese movies, soundtracks, classical music… I love Japan. It’s my favourite place in the world.”

An unenviably busy man, it’s a marvel that he finds time to sleep at all. Between Club Cheval, producing, ghost-producing and relentless touring, it’s no surprise that his EP is awash with glitchy emotions and temperamental melodies.

Catch Sam Tiba on the upcoming Nina Las Vegas PRESENTS (international edition) tour:

Friday 10 October – Villa, Perth
Saturday 11 October – The Hi-Fi, Melbourne
Sunday 12 October – Zhivago, Adelaide
Thursday 16 October – Helm Bar, Sunshine Coast
Friday 17 October – Meanwhile at The Imperial, Sydney
Saturday 18 October – The TBC Club, Brisbane