With his tightly buttoned-up shirt and quiet manner, you really would not expect to experience the explorative high-and-low musical journey, Pierre-Alexandre Busson aka Yuksek takes you on when he plays his solo live shows. Surrounded by ground-shaking electro wizardry, Yuksek belts out vocals rarely seen in his French electro peers. Not that Yuksek is keen to be boxed into the Ed Banger hole, hence why he has signed with Fiction records to release his album 'Away From the Sea' which is out today. The record reflects an array of influences and styles, all binded together with an uplifiting spirit best seen in tracks like ‘Tonight’, ’Like to Play’ and ‘Extraball’. It came as no surprise to us when Yuksek revealed that playing music is when he’s at his highest. Natural high all the way.

Dazed Digital: What's so special about you?
Yuksek: Something so special that I cannot say?

DD: Do you think there might be a tendancy to put you in a defined French electro box?
Yuksek: I don't know... the thing is I think I'm doing something different. I like many different things. I think if you put me in a Yuksek box, that would be perfect.

DD: What do you add that is uniquely yours?
Yuksek: I have more vocals and I'm singing on stage which a lot of French electro artists don't do. I think the album is more pop in a way with a lot of positivity in the tracks.

DD: Do you think your classical music training background affects your music?
Yuksek: I think it gives me the capacity to work faster and to find the arrangements quicker but it's not really important for my style of music.

DD: Why did you decide to go solo after doing so many remixes?
Yuksek: I actually like to work alone and I've always wanted to do that. For this album, I collaborated with a lot of people too so it wasn't like I was completely alone.

DD: How did the collaborations with people like Chromeo and Amanda Blank happen on the album?
Yuksek: It's just like a bunch of connections, nothing is prepared. For example with Chromeo, they asked me a remix and I said "Of course!" and then they did a track for us. With Amanda, I knew her boyfriend and we started talking and that's how that happened. 

DD: Are there any other connections you want to make?
Yuksek: I'm meeting people every weekend that I could work with! I'm also working with a French band called The Bewitched Hands on the Top of our Heads as we're touring together. We'll see.

DD: When are you most high (“Yuksek” means ‘high’ in Turkish)?
Yuksek: I'm a very quiet person really!  I'm my happiest when making music I guess.

'Away from the Sea' out now on Fiction.