In early 2021, as the pandemic was still sweeping across the globe, the French film director and auteur Olivier Assayas invited us to compose music for his HBO series, Irma Vep. A truly magnificent experience which allowed us to watch the master at work. We studied his scripts and collaborated with Parisian musicians, recording vocals with the lead actress, Alicia Vikander, who sang two numbers for the soundtrack, both of which have cool, vampiric titles — “Carpe Noctem” and the witchy “Tinder the Spark.”
While on set we saw how incredible the cast of actors were. Some we weren’t aware of, as they were mostly in French productions which had never made their way out of France. We were immediately and incredibly enthused by Devon Ross, who was cast as Regina — her character representing a rejuvenated spirit, the next generation.
In one scene, Regina subtly holds a copy of a book by the postmodern philosopher Gilles Delueuze. In another scene, she discusses experimental cinema, keeping the flow of the series evolving. Her character is radical and coolly enraptures the viewer.
We would first connect with Devon at Irma Vep’s Cannes premiere in 2022, and immediately hit it off, talking about our shared devotion to rock & roll. We learned that her dad, Craig Ross, is the killer guitarist from Lenny Kravitz’s group, and that Devon too plays and writes songs.
We also found out that Devon lived in London. We quickly met up and began to hang out, hitting gigs, record stores, and sharing high tea together. After hearing some of Devon’s recent solo recordings, we were blown away and offered to release them as soon as now.
This song “Mine Not Yours” is the tune that speaks to the idea that people do not belong to people… You can say “he’s mine,” but that kind of talk is for vampires. It’s cool this song releases on Valentine’s Day, because it’s sort of anti-yours/mine. It’s about owning up to yourself and conquering your own psychology.
— Thurston Moore
(Photo Credit: Sarah Piantadosi)
