Ensemble
Originally from Toulouse, France, Olivier Alary created Ensemble as his mus… Read Full Bio ↴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. Expanding on his collaborative spirit, 2006’s new album (‘Ensemble’) features beautiful vocal performances by Chan Marshall (Cat Power), Lou Barlow (Dinosaur Jr.) and UK-based Mileece, as well as drums by Adam Pierce from Mice Parade and orchestral arrangements by Johannes Malfatti, performed by the Babelsberg Film Orchestra in Germany.
Additionally, Olivier remixed the b-side track, ‘That Summer, At Home I Had Become The Invisible Boy’, on The Twilight Sad’s single ‘And She Would Darken The Memory’, released in July 2007.
Olivier has also composed music for several exhibitions at the V&A museum; contributed to an Audio-Video installation by Doug Aitken at the Centre Georges Pompidou; and received an honorary mention at the Ars Electronica Festival for his noise side project, Chlorgeschlecht. He has also provided the soundtrack for the 2008 film 'Up The Yangtze', directed by Yung Chang.
Ensemble's newest album - '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 (himself an award-winning theatre / film composer) and vocalist Darcy Conroy.
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. Expanding on his collaborative spirit, 2006’s new album (‘Ensemble’) features beautiful vocal performances by Chan Marshall (Cat Power), Lou Barlow (Dinosaur Jr.) and UK-based Mileece, as well as drums by Adam Pierce from Mice Parade and orchestral arrangements by Johannes Malfatti, performed by the Babelsberg Film Orchestra in Germany.
Additionally, Olivier remixed the b-side track, ‘That Summer, At Home I Had Become The Invisible Boy’, on The Twilight Sad’s single ‘And She Would Darken The Memory’, released in July 2007.
Olivier has also composed music for several exhibitions at the V&A museum; contributed to an Audio-Video installation by Doug Aitken at the Centre Georges Pompidou; and received an honorary mention at the Ars Electronica Festival for his noise side project, Chlorgeschlecht. He has also provided the soundtrack for the 2008 film 'Up The Yangtze', directed by Yung Chang.
Ensemble's newest album - '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 (himself an award-winning theatre / film composer) and vocalist Darcy Conroy.
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Ensemble Lyrics
Commentary Commentary Commentary Fasten your seatbelts It's a commentar…
Disown Delete I breathe Silence may give the way But you and you and…
En DONNA Ryggsäck och keps Bak och fram när hon går till skolan…
Everything Try not to get worried Try not to turn on to…
Falling... Falling I don't know you But I want you All the more for…
Finale There's a place for us A time and place for us Hold…
For Good So you found a place where the grass is greener And…
Get Me To The Church On Time There's just a few more hours That's all the time you've…
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I Believe I believe in love. I believe in love. I believe in love. I…
Ich schau dich an Herr, wenn ich nur Dich hab, so frag ich nichts…
It's A Typical Day The general rode for sixteen days The horses were thirsty an…
Knockin' on Heaven's Door Mama, wipe the blood off of my face I can't see…
No More Flahooleys! The sun's up With the new display The week starts No longer …
No Nos Moveran What do we want? Peace! When do we want it? Now! What…
O Come All Ye Faithful Oh, come ye O come ye to Bethlehem Come and behold him Born…
One I'm Just A Man 唱:木子 / 張駿豪 / 瞬.樂團 曲:木子 詞:木子 編:張駿豪 監:張駿豪 I'…
Opening Jenna! What's the special pie today? Uh, deep shit blueberry…
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town I just came back from a lovely trip along the…
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Strike! When lightning strikes A tree or two A ray of light A shade…
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The Sound of Music There's a sad sort of clanging from the clock in…
The Temple We've got thieves in the temple We've got thieves in the…
There's No Cure Like Travel/Bon Voyage Oh there's no cure like travel To help you unravel The worri…
Things I Forget Verse 1 I’m gonna make a way On my ten…
Tonight ct the end of the day Let's go away For a sunday…
We Love England I'm like a fish out of its water You're a whale…
We Rock Buddy you're a boy make a big noise Playin' in the…
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Welcome To Transylvania Hmmmmm... Welcome to Transylvania, We′re very happy that yo…
Wir sind britisch Mitten wir im Leben sind Mit dem Tod umbfangen. Wen suchen…