Olivier Alary
Encyclopedia
A native of Toulouse, France, Olivier Alary is a Montreal-based musician and composer who has released his own recordings, as well as composing for film and exhibitions.
A former student of architecture, Alary created Ensemble in 1998 as a musical persona through which to explore the encounter between melodic noise and disjointed pop. He moved to London to study music and in 2000 he released his first album Sketch Proposals under the name Ensemble with Rephlex Records
Rephlex Records
Rephlex Records is a record label started in 1991 by electronic musician Richard D. James and Grant Wilson-Claridge. Rephlex coined the term braindance to describe the otherwise uncategorisable output of Aphex Twin and Rephlex Records...
.
Sketch Proposals caught the attention of Björk
Björk
Björk Guðmundsdóttir , known as Björk , is an Icelandic singer-songwriter. Her eclectic musical style has achieved popular acknowledgement and popularity within many musical genres, such as rock, jazz, electronic dance music, classical and folk...
, and Alary’s remixes of two of her songs – "Sun in My Mouth" and "Mouth's Cradle" – were released as b-sides. He went on to co-write the song "Desired Constellation" with Björk on her 2004 album Medúlla
Medúlla
Medúlla is the sixth studio album by Icelandic singer, songwriter, and musician Björk, released on August 30, 2004 by Warner Bros. Records and One Little Indian. The title derives from the Latin word for "marrow". The album is almost entirely a cappella and constructed with human vocals...
.
Alary’s follow-up album, the self-titled Ensemble, blends symphonic wall-of-sound with intimate folk-pop vocals, and was released in 2006. It features vocal performances by Chan Marshall (of Cat Power
Cat Power
Charlyn Marie Marshall , also known as Chan Marshall or by her stage name Cat Power, is an American singer/songwriter and occasional actress and model. Cat Power was originally the name of Marshall's first band, but has come to refer to her musical projects with various backing bands...
fame), Lou Barlow
Lou Barlow
Louis Knox Barlow is an American alternative rock musician and songwriter. A founding member of the groups Deep Wound, Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh and The Folk Implosion. Barlow is credited with helping to pioneer the lo-fi style of rock music in the late 1980s and early 1990s...
and Mileece; drums by Adam Pierce; and orchestral arrangements by Johannes Malfatti, performed by Germany’s Babelsberg Film Orchestra.
Ensemble's third 'Excerpts' was released in January 2011. A beautiful, sophisticated record of orchestrated pop songs on the theme of fictional and false memories, the album features collaborators Johannes Malfatti and vocalist Darcy Conroy.
Olivier has also composed music for several exhibitions at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum; contributed to an installation by Doug Aitken at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris; and has received an honorary mention at the Ars Electronica Festival for his project Chlorgeschlecht. He has also collaborated with photographer Nick Knight. Since 2007, he has also provided soundtrack for several feature-length films and documentaries, some of which have received prestigious awards and screenings in Europe, the US and China.
Selected Discography
'Excerpts', third album with FatCat Records'Envies d'Avalanches', e.p on Fat Cat Records
Fat Cat Records
Fat Cat Records is an independent label based in Brighton on England’s South Coast. Their output includes electronica, post rock, indie, downtempo, minimal techno, noise and punk-pop...
'Ensemble : ensemble', second album with FatCat Records
'Disown, delete', e.p on Fat Cat Records
Fat Cat Records
Fat Cat Records is an independent label based in Brighton on England’s South Coast. Their output includes electronica, post rock, indie, downtempo, minimal techno, noise and punk-pop...
'Sketch Proposals', debut album on Rephlex records
'Sun in my mouth recomposed by Ensemble', Ensemble's 1st Björk remix (Vespertine
Vespertine
Vespertine, is the fifth studio album by the Icelandic recording artist Björk, released on 27 August 2001. On this album, Björk creates a quiet, introverted world of microbeats and personal lyrics...
)
'Cocoon retangled by Ensemble', Ensemble's 2nd Björk remix (Vespertine
Vespertine
Vespertine, is the fifth studio album by the Icelandic recording artist Björk, released on 27 August 2001. On this album, Björk creates a quiet, introverted world of microbeats and personal lyrics...
)
‘Mouth's Cradle recomposed by Ensemble’, Ensemble's 3rd Björk remix (Medúlla
Medúlla
Medúlla is the sixth studio album by Icelandic singer, songwriter, and musician Björk, released on August 30, 2004 by Warner Bros. Records and One Little Indian. The title derives from the Latin word for "marrow". The album is almost entirely a cappella and constructed with human vocals...
)
‘Desired Constellation’ on Björk’s album (Medúlla
Medúlla
Medúlla is the sixth studio album by Icelandic singer, songwriter, and musician Björk, released on August 30, 2004 by Warner Bros. Records and One Little Indian. The title derives from the Latin word for "marrow". The album is almost entirely a cappella and constructed with human vocals...
)
‘Chlorgeschlecht – Unyoga’ (Honorary mention at Ars Electronica)
Selected projects
'Jo for Jonathan':Soundtrack of the feature length fiction film directed by Maxime Giroux
Maxime Giroux
Maxime Giroux is a film director from Quebec, Canada. He has directed several short films, videoclips and commercial videos...
. 2011
'Last Train Home':
Soundtrack of the feature length documentary directed by Lixin Fan
Lixin Fan
Lixin Fan is a Montreal, Canada-based documentary film director with the Canadian production company EyeSteelFilm and previously a producer/journalist at China’s state broadcaster CCTV.Lixin's debut feature documentary Last Train Home won several awards...
. 2009
'The Dreaming':
Soundtrack of the short fiction film directed by . 2008
'Up the Yangtze':
Soundtrack of the feature length documentary directed by Yung Chang
Yung Chang
-Biography:Yung Chang is the director of Up the Yangtze. He is a Canadian filmmaker currently based in Montreal, where he earned a degree in film production in 1999 from Concordia University...
. 2007
'Bascule', Soundtrack for David Wampach’s dance piece Bascule for the 'Printemps de Septembre' Art festival, Toulouse, 2005
'Proposal 9', Soundtrack for 'New Skin' an installation by Doug Aitken, for 'Sonic-Process', MACBA
Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art
The Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art is situated in the Plaça dels Àngels, in El Raval, Ciutat Vella, Barcelona, Spain. The museum opened to the public on November 28, 1995. Its current director is Bartomeu Marí . Previous directors were Daniel Giralt-Miracle , Miguel Molins , Manuel J...
, Barcelona; Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2003
'Ephemere', Soundtrack for 'Radical Fashion', Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 2001