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 CD-R (Compact disc-recordable) is a digital optical disc storage format. A CD-R disc is a compact disc that can be written once and read arbitrarily many times. CD-R discs (CD-Rs) are readable by most CD readers manufactured prior to the int ...

and cassette releases of his experimental,

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

-influenced songs for friends and family. His first recordings as Benoît Pioulard appeared on the ''Random Number...Colors Start'' compilation released by the

Ann Arbor Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...

-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. In 2010, Meluch formed

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with minimalist composer Rafael Anton Irisarri. The duo's self-titled debut was released in April 2012 on Germany's

Morr Music Morr Music is an independent record label based in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in 1999 by Thomas Morr. Most artists on the label fall into the categories of intelligent dance music, electronica and dreampop, but all reflect Thomas Morr's pers ...

imprint, and its follow-up ''Yearling'' was released in early 2014. 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" EP ( Moodgadget, 2005) *''Dakota / Housecoat'' CD-R (self-released, 2006) *'' Précis'' CD ( Kranky, 2006) *''Fir'' 7" EP (Type, 2007) *'' Temper'' LP (Kranky, 2008) *''Lee'' 7" (

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, 2008) *''Flocks'' 7" (Blue Flea, 2009) *'' Lasted'' LP (Kranky, 2010) *''

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'' EP (

Desire Path Recordings Desires are states of mind that are expressed by terms like " wanting", "wishing", "longing" or "craving". A great variety of features is commonly associated with desires. They are seen as propositional attitudes towards conceivable states of af ...

, 2011) *''Hymnal'' LP (Kranky, 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

*''Random Number...Colors Start'' ( Moodgadget, 2004) *''Idol Tryouts 2'' (Ghostly International, 2006) *''The Rorschach Suite'' ( Moodgadget, 2006) *'' Four-beat Rhythm: The Writings of Wilhelm Reich'' (Workshop, 2013) *''Sensorimotor'' (track 6: Witness) – Lusine (Ghostly International, 2017)

References

External links

Official website

Bandcamp site

Myspace page

Kranky website

Moodgadget website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pioulard American singer-songwriters Living people 1984 births American experimental musicians 21st-century American singers