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Benoit Pioulard

{{short description|American singer-songwriter}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2020}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| image = File:Benoit Pioulard performing at Oxfam Cafe at Tufts University in 2009.png

| image_size = 150

| name = Benoît Pioulard

| birth_name = Thomas Meluch

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1984|8|4|mf=y}}

| origin = Michigan, U.S.

| genre = Electronic, ambient, folk, shoegaze

| years_active = 2001–present

| label = Kranky, Moodgadget, Ghostly International, A Remarkable Idea

}}

Thomas Meluch (born August 4, 1984) is an American multi-instrumentalist, writer, and photographer, best known by his pseudonym Benoît Pioulard.

His music signed to Kranky Records.

Biography

Meluch began documenting field recordings and his own lo-fi compositions on dictaphones, discarded stereos and four-track machines in the mid 1990s, later focusing on highly limited CD-R and cassette releases of his experimental, folk-influenced songs for friends and family.{{cite web |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/20304-sonnet/ |title = Benoît Pioulard: Sonnet Album Review |website = Pitchfork}}{{Cite web|url=https://daily.bandcamp.com/2016/10/19/benoit-pioulard-interview/|title = Benoit Pioulard's Music and Art are a Window into Daily Life|website=Daily.bandcamp.com|date = October 19, 2016}}{{cite web |url=http://bigtakeover.com/interviews/benoit-pioulard |title = The Big Takeover: Benoit Pioulard|website=Bigtakeover.com}}

His first recordings as Benoît Pioulard appeared on the Random Number...Colors Start compilation released by the Ann Arbor-based Moodgadget label in 2004. After 2005's Enge EP Meluch was signed to Chicago's Kranky imprint, for whom he recorded the albums Précis (2006),Temper (2008), Lasted (2010), Hymnal (2013), Sonnet (2015), and The Benoit Pioulard Listening Matter (2016), as well as Lignin Poise (2017) for Beacon Sound, and Sylva (2019) for Morr Music.{{cite web |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/benoit-pioulard-the-benoit-pioulard-listening-matter-interview-stream/ |title = Benoît Pioulard's Music Is as Fleeting as Life|website=Vice.com| date=September 29, 2016 }}{{cite web |url=https://reviews.headphonecommute.com/2015/08/20/in-the-studio-with-benoit-pioulard/ |title = In the studio with Benoît Pioulard |website=Reviews.headphonecommute.com|date = August 20, 2015}}{{cite web |url=https://www.echoesanddust.com/2016/11/benoit-pioulard-the-benoit-pioulard-listening-matter/ |title = Benoît Pioulard – The Benoît Pioulard Listening Matter |website=Echoesanddust.com|date = November 11, 2016}}

In 2010, Meluch formed Orcas with minimalist composer Rafael Anton Irisarri. The duo's self-titled debut was released in April 2012 on Germany's Morr Music imprint, and its follow-up Yearling was released in early 2014.{{cite web |url=https://www.attnmagazine.co.uk/features/9022 |title = Interview: Benoît Pioulard |website=Attnmagazine.co.uk}}{{Cite web|url=https://fracturedair.com/2016/11/01/chosen-one-benoit-pioulard-3/|title=Chosen One: Benoît Pioulard | FRACTURED AIR|date=May 8, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170508042710/https://fracturedair.com/2016/11/01/chosen-one-benoit-pioulard-3/ |access-date=March 4, 2023|archive-date=May 8, 2017 }}

Meluch lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Discography

= Solo =

  • Blurred CD-R (self-released, 2001)
  • Clear CD-R (self-released, 2001)
  • Skymost CD-R (self-released, 2003)
  • Enge 7-inch EP (Moodgadget, 2005)
  • Dakota / Housecoat CD-R (self-released, 2006)
  • Précis CD (Kranky, 2006)
  • Fir 7-inch EP (Type, 2007)
  • Temper LP (Kranky, 2008)
  • Lee 7-inch (Hall Of Owls, 2008)
  • Flocks 7-inch (Blue Flea, 2009)
  • Lasted LP (Kranky, 2010)
  • Plays Thelma EP (Desire Path Recordings, 2011)
  • Hymnal LP (Kranky, 2013){{cite web|last=Phares |first=Heather |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/hymnal-mw0002476061 |title=Hymnal – Benoît Pioulard : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards |website=AllMusic |date=March 5, 2013 |access-date=April 9, 2013}}
  • Sonnet LP (Kranky, 2015)
  • Noyaux EP (Morr Music, 2015)
  • Seize/Marre EP (self-released, 2016)
  • The Benoit Pioulard Listening Matter (Kranky, 2016)
  • Radial CD-R (self-released, June 27, 2016)
  • Slow spark, soft spoke (Dauw, 2017)
  • Lignin Poise (Beacon Sound, 2017)
  • Persona (Mellotron, 2019)
  • Sylva (Morr Music, 2019)

= Collaborations =

  • PERILS – PERILS (with Kyle Bobby Dunn), LP (Desire Path Recordings, 2015)
  • Deck Amber (with Ant'lrd) LP (Sounds et al, 2018)
  • Communiqué (with Jogging House) (self-released, 2022)

= Appeared on =

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • [http://www.pioulard.com/ Official website]
  • [https://pioulard.bandcamp.com/ Bandcamp site]
  • [http://www.myspace.com/pioulard Myspace page]
  • [http://www.kranky.net/ Kranky website]
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20180807144511/http://moodgadget.com/ Moodgadget website]
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20070501042118/http://www.pressplayrecord.com/2007/01/benoit-pioulard.html Press Play and Record interview]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pioulard, Benoit}}

Category:1984 births

Category:Living people

Category:American male singer-songwriters

Category:American experimental musicians

Category:21st-century American singer-songwriters

Category:Kranky (record label) artists