ARTIST: Ensemble
TITLE: Ensemble
LABEL: FatCat
GENRE: Electronic
BITRATE: 201kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 43min total
RELEASE DATE: 2006-09-25
RIP DATE: 2006-08-18

Track List

01. Summerstorm (Feat. Mileece)     6:59
02. Still                           2:04
03. One Kind Two Minds (Feat. Lou   5:56
Barlow)
04. Unrest                          1:52
05. Disown, Delete (Feat. Cat       6:13
Power)
06. All We Leave Behind (Feat.      4:47
Mileece)
07. Loose (Feat. Camille Claverie)  9:36
08. For Good                        6:04

Release Notes:

Hot on the heels of the recent ‘Disown, Delete’ single, Olivier Alary’s Ensemble
returns with a self-titled album release for FatCat. Bold and adventurous, the
album is a sumptuously recorded, played and arranged meeting of indie /
electronica.

Originally from Toulouse, France, but now resident in Montreal, Olivier created
Ensemble as his musical persona back in 1998, as a platform to explore the
meeting point between melodic noise and experimental pop. Initially working
under the name ‘Hearing Is Our Concern’, Olivier was actually the first person
the newly-founded FatCat label ever received a demo from. We stayed in touch for
a while, but subsequently the name was changed to Ensemble, and a chance meeting
with Aphex Twin’s Rephlex Records in 2000 resulted in the release of his debut
album, ‘Sketch Proposals’. While not widely released, ‘Sketch Proposals’ gained
a small, dedicated audience, saw Olivier develop a reputation for the stunning
quality of his programming and sound-work, and led to a number of writing
collaborations with Bjork, along with several remixes of her work.

This collaborative spirit has continued with ‘Ensemble’, his latest, most
fully-realised body of work to date - an album that fully refreshes and updates
the Ensemble sound. After his original partner in Ensemble, Chanelle, left the
project, Olivier re-thought Ensemble, deciding to find a number of occassional
collaborators with which to expand the ensemble sound. Drawing upon artists
whose work he admired, the album features collaborations from singers Chan
Marshall, Lou Barlow (Sebadoh / Dinosaur Jr), Mileece, and Camille Claverie;
with drummer Adam Pierce (Mice Parade / Múm / Dylan group / HiM); and orchestral
arrangements by Johannes Malfatti, performed by the Babelsberg Film Orchestra in
Germany.

A fan of her work as Cat Power, Olivier met Chan briefly in Paris, and following
further conversations via e-mail and filesharing, went to Cabbagetown, Atlanta
for 3 days to record with her in May 2004. The resulting track – lifted as a
single - is a delicate fusion of symphonic, wall-of-sound production, and
intimate folk-pop vocals. As a teenager, Olivier was a fan of the early Sebadoh
records. Finding his site on the internet, he contacted Lou Barlow and sent him
‘One Kind Two Minds’. They exchanged CDs back and forth and when Lou came to
Toulouse in May 2005 for a gig he spent the night finalising the song with
Olivier. Mileece is a long-time collaborator, whom Olivier met while studying
sonic arts in London. Two tracks, ‘All We Leave Behind’ and the stirring opener,
‘Summerstorm’ were recorded at the ‘beauftiful and decrepit ‘ farm she lives on
in Dordogne. As founder of the Bubblecore label (now running FatCat USA), Adam
Pierce was actually the first person to release Olivier’s music, putting a
Hearing Is Our Concern tracks on a Bubblecore sampler in 1997. Here, Adam
returns the favour laying down drum tracks which he then sent back on DAT.
Olivier then re-sequenced some of the material he played and layered these
takes.

“A real Piano genius” according to Olivier, Johannes Malfatti was someone
Olivier met whilst living in London. The work he did here was actually his first
ever orchestral work. Johannes put together the arrangements in Berlin, with the
Babelsberg Film Orchestra and then sent Olivier the recordings. Olivier then
altered parts and mixed all these layers together. At the end of all these
various recording sessions he was left with at least 70 sound layers to play
with on each song! He went to Berlin to meet with Johannes again and mix the
album with him during 2 weeks (working 15 hours a day).

The result is this stunning and beautiful album - a labour of love that coheres
into something far greater than the sum of its parts. A high-class, organic
integration of the electronic and acoustic, it floats free in its own luscious
world, and sounds like little else around right now.