Francesco Amoroso per TRISTE©

Maud Anyways is the solo project of French musician Maud Platiau-Bourret. Impermanent Lane was out in 2023, on Brighton’s Shore Drive Records. Echoes of Encounters, her magnificent second album feels like a quiet conversation with your own mind: intimate, reflective, and slightly elusive. The album lingers on mood, letting subtle guitar textures and emotional nuance do the work. Its strength lies in how it captures fleeting moments and turns them into something gently resonant. It’s a record of modern shoegaze songs, that rewards unhurried listening, inviting you to sit with it and let the echoes unfold. Echoes of Encounters is a perfect mix of ringing guitars, deep bass and precise rhythms, with a dreamy floating vocal. With Maud Platiau-Bourret we went for a deeper journey -track by track- into the heart of Maud Anyways fantastic new album.

Inside Echoes Of Encounters, track-by-track (by Maud Platiau-Bourret)

“The creation of my new album, Echoes of Encounters, was less a structured recording process and more an intense, cathartic journey into my own memories. This deeply personal project was written over two years, with the music often seemingly imposing itself on me as a necessary means of emotional release.
I approached this project with a commitment to authenticity and raw emotional depth. Stylistically, I noticed a clear shift: Echoes of Encounters is less shoegaze than my debut, pivoting toward a more stripped-down, very personal sound.
The initial phase began with intensive songwriting. I spent months compiling fragmented thoughts, journal entries, and voice notes -the true “echoes of encounters” that inspired the title. Each track serves as a poignant reflection on past relationships and the intensity of loss.
The entire elaboration of the album was an emotionally demanding and exhausting process. The writing and recording required me to confront painful memories, making it very difficult emotionally. Even now, listening back to the finished record, I find it still very moving.
The goal of this album was to show listeners exactly what I was going through each day, allowing them to connect with an emotional landscape that no one could imagine from the outside. Now that it is complete, I feel a clear need for time to do something else and digest all this, a necessary decompression after such an intense creative and personal outpouring.
The process is often in this order: drums with my box rhythm, bass, guitars, synt, lyrics and vocals. On this LP, I often used synth first, then drums, bass, guitars and always lyrics and vocals in the end.
Then, I send everything to Casper Iskov, he does some instruments, mainly the drums, he mixes and does the mastering too. He is an incredible musician (in solo projects and with his band Ethics), I am a big fan and he brings a lot to my work respecting the spirit. I am thankful and privileged to work with him. I met him this year in Copenhagen as he was supporting RIDE with Ethics, he is a wonderful person.

Talk To Me

“I composed this song by following my usual process: first the drums, then the bass, followed by the synth, vocals, and finally the lyrics. I am often inspired by ‘catchy dreams’. The lyrics are primarily about comforting someone going through a deep depression. I have also gone through a major depressive episode myself, even though I feel like I don’t really know how to comfort someone else. For me the solution came with encounters and expressions of feelings.”

What’s Gone Is For Nothingness

“I composed this song using the same process as usual. The story is about the constant battle between sadness and anger regarding the end of a love story that doesn’t even started and the deep sadness and wandering that came off”

A World Away

“This is the assessment of a love story, resulting in hundreds of words written about constant heartache, always using the same writing process.”

The Pain Inside

“The Pain Inside is about the fear of losing a precious friendship. It’s about how it started and goes on, and the projection of the end of it and the consequences.”

Leftover Love

“This song speaks to the despair of a love story that ended abruptly, leaving her feeling guilty because no explanation was given. Ultimately, she managed to recover from it.”

A Thousand Words

“This is the assessment of a love story, with hundreds of words constantly fluctuating between expressions of pain/suffering. The synths came in first, then the bass, followed by the guitars, the vocals, and finally the lyrics.”

She’s Dancing

“This song is about a girl who promised herself never to fall in love again because she is too fragile and haunted by the last relationship she had. Synths first, bass, drums, and lyrics.”

Inner Glow

“A girl who finds serenity again after a period of self-doubt that overwhelmed her.”

Fading Away

“This one is the most emotional for me. It is song is about the love for someone that will never fade, even after the relationship has ended, while also expressing guilt and regret for her own behavior. First time with piano, then voice,bass and guitar.” 

“Conclusion : All these songs talk about the importance of encounters (or: meetings/connections) in one’s life.”

Echoes Of Encounters is out now via 1991 Recordings. Look HERE for more information on Maud Anyways.