Career
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 popular. He moved to London to study music and in 2000 he released his first album Sketch Proposals under the name Ensemble with Rephlex Records.
Sketch Proposals caught the attention of Björk, and Alary"s remixes of three of her songs – "Sun in My Mouth", "Cocoon" 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. Alary"s follow-up album, the self-titled Ensemble, blends symphonic wall-of-sound with intimate folk-popular vocals, and was released in 2006.
lieutenant features vocal performances by Chan Marshall (of Cat Power fame), Lou Barlow and Mileece. Drums by Adam Pierce.
And orchestral arrangements by Johannes Malfatti, performed by Germany"s Babelsberg Film Orchestra.
Ensemble"s third album Excerpts was released in January 2011. A beautiful, sophisticated record of orchestrated popular 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.
2015: Ville-Marie, fiction film directed by Guy Edoin
2014: Yo, fiction film directed by Matias Meyer
2014: Corbo, fiction film directed by Mathieu Denis
2014: Felix and Meira, fiction film directed by Maxime Giroux
2012: China Heavyweight, documentary directed by Yung Chang
2011: Jo for Jonathan, fiction film directed by Maxime Giroux
2009: Last Train Home, documentary directed by Lixin Fan
2007: Up the Yangtze, documentary directed by Yung Chang
2005: Bascule, David Wampach"s dance piece for the "Printemps de Septembre" Art festival, Toulouse
2003: Proposal 9, for "New Skin" an installation by Doug Aitken, for "Sonic-Process", MACBA, Barcelona. Centre Pompidou, Paris
2001: Ephemere", for "Radical Fashion", Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
