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Originally from Toulouse, France, Olivier Alary created Ensemble as his musical persona in 1998, as a platform to explore the meeting point between melodic noise and disjointed pop.
After dropping out from an architecture course at college, Olivier moved to London. Initially working under the name ‘Hearing Is Our Concern’, he was actually the first person the newly-founded FatCat label ever received a demo from, although nothing came of this at the time, as Olivier wanted to do further work on his tracks. The name was changed to Ensemble and a chance meeting with Rephlex Records in 2000 resulted in the release of his first album, ‘Sketch Proposals’.
While not widely released, ‘Sketch Proposals’ did gain a small, dedicated audience, not least of which included Bjork, who had the album on heavy rotation while working on her 2001 album ‘Vespertine’. We put Olivier in touch with her and in 2002, Ensemble’s remixes of Bjork’s ‘Sun In My Mouth’ and ‘Cocoon’ were released as b-sides. Their collaborative relationship eventually led to Olivier’s co-writing of the song ‘Desired Constellation’ on Bjork’s 2004 album ‘Medulla’, and still more remixes on the ‘Triumph of a Heart’ single.
Around this time, Olivier continued work on a follow-up to ‘Sketch Proposals’, aiming to collide symphonic walls-of-sound with intimate folk-pop vocal pieces. Recorded over a period of 3 years, and composed mainly in Montreal, where he now resides, Olivier traveled from Canada, to Atlanta, then to a countryside farm in French Dordogne, and finally to Berlin for his recordings, with each disparate environment absorbed into the moods of each track.
After dropping out from an architecture course at college, Olivier moved to London. Initially working under the name ‘Hearing Is Our Concern’, he was actually the first person the newly-founded FatCat label ever received a demo from, although nothing came of this at the time, as Olivier wanted to do further work on his tracks. The name was changed to Ensemble and a chance meeting with Rephlex Records in 2000 resulted in the release of his first album, ‘Sketch Proposals’.
While not widely released, ‘Sketch Proposals’ did gain a small, dedicated audience, not least of which included Bjork, who had the album on heavy rotation while working on her 2001 album ‘Vespertine’. We put Olivier in touch with her and in 2002, Ensemble’s remixes of Bjork’s ‘Sun In My Mouth’ and ‘Cocoon’ were released as b-sides. Their collaborative relationship eventually led to Olivier’s co-writing of the song ‘Desired Constellation’ on Bjork’s 2004 album ‘Medulla’, and still more remixes on the ‘Triumph of a Heart’ single.
Around this time, Olivier continued work on a follow-up to ‘Sketch Proposals’, aiming to collide symphonic walls-of-sound with intimate folk-pop vocal pieces. Recorded over a period of 3 years, and composed mainly in Montreal, where he now resides, Olivier traveled from Canada, to Atlanta, then to a countryside farm in French Dordogne, and finally to Berlin for his recordings, with each disparate environment absorbed into the moods of each track.
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Excerpts
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Ensemble
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Sketch Proposals
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Shoutbox
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ravenclawdia wrote:
I do the weird stuff!
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takkat wrote:
Another interview with Mr. Alary: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Composer+varied+influences+lead+unusual+musical+sound/4639230/story.html
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JuhanRaud wrote:
This is sooo nice, I just might sleep with the same girl twice...
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noisybishop wrote:
An interview with Mr. Alary http://sloucher.org/2011/02/21/interview-ensemble/
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noisybishop wrote:
I really can't say much about this album besides "i loved it"... so cinematic... http://sloucher.org/2011/01/25/classical-in-all-senses/
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cutcocoon wrote:
Excerpts is amazing.
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idna wrote:
new record is a bliss http://fat-cat.co.uk/fatcat/release.php?id=337
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MissSoftserve wrote:
I love that the picture is of Dr. Horrible's cast, haha
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SHROUDOFSTARS wrote:
Proposal 9
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avele_zosele wrote:
Desired Constellation!:}
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Lastsentence wrote:
Like the Ensemble, Ensemble album. All We Leave Behind is just a beautiful piece of music.
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thomas146 wrote:
http://www.lastfm.de/music/Ensemble/+images/40793191
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ArctorTroy wrote:
we do the weird stuff!
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Alysonne wrote:
Aw, Dr. Horrible took over!
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plyPhon wrote:
Vocals Ruin Music
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Gorriz wrote:
Love this one. It´s peace in music.
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MindShake wrote:
I enjoy those Spring Awakening tracks on here. Hahaha.
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CvaldaVessalis wrote:
I found his CD in HMV under Dance... though it can be very easily mixed into such, I wouldn't call any of Alary's music dance music... just me?
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Tanru wrote:
I love the remix of Björk's Sun In My Mouth.
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FatherLucifer wrote:
Yep, his Björk remixes are the best! Besides, he's created the sample from which Björk made probably one of the best songs ever: Desired Constellation (too bad the preview of this song here at last.fm is incorrect. They put another of her songs instead).
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Check out this video: Ensemble : Excerpts
6 Feb 2011 | from blog.myspace.com/olivieralary
Ensemble : Excerpts
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6 Feb 2011 | from blog.myspace.com/olivieralary -
27 Jun 2008 | from blog.myspace.com/olivieralary -
27 Jun 2008 | from blog.myspace.com/olivieralary
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billImnot, mnswick, RyryScates and 5 other people added Ensemble to their libraries. last month
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undergroundlies wrote about Ensemble in 2011. last month
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Kumanosuke wrote about Ensemble in a deleted journal. October 2011
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Kumanosuke wrote about Ensemble in seen live. October 2011
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IRONICtypo updated the wiki page for Ensemble. (diff) September 2011
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sairoll added Ensemble to the lineup of Festival Les Inrocks at Divan du Monde. September 2011
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