Mathis Akengin

Nurtured by a Franco-Turkish background and by back-and-forth trips between France and Istanbul, Mathis Akengin develops a chamber pop centered on the piano, where voice, silences and understated arrangements play an essential role. Discovered within the Inouïs framework of the Printemps de Bourges and then programmed at the Eurockéennes, Mathis Akengin follows a trajectory built on the margins of classical paths, with early tours from adolescence and a very precocious stage practice. Before moving forward under his own name, he notably plays with Catfish and Dead Chic, and also works on arrangements for Matmatah, experiences that illuminate a taste for direct, stripped-down and melodic forms. His writing sits between Francophone pop, chanson and intimate moods, with particular attention paid to the tension between restraint and momentum. Mathis Akengin also frames this search in a personal relationship to languages and to familial transmission. His first album, Passage des Fleurs, announced for 2025, borrows its title from Istanbul’s Çiçek Pasajı and focuses on this memory traversed by family ties, travel and what is sometimes said beyond words.