Colin Stetson (born March 3, 1975) is an American

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

, multireedist, and composer based in Montreal. He is best known as a regular collaborator of the

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

acts

Arcade Fire Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band from Montreal, Quebec, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury, and Jeremy Gara. The band's touring line-up includes former core ...

Bon Iver Bon Iver ( ) is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Vernon had originally formed Bon Iver as a solo project, but it eventually became a band consisting of Vernon (vocals, guit ...

, Bell Orchestre, and Ex Eye. In addition to

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

, he plays

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays no ...

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most o ...

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

, and

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. There is also a soprano cor ...

. Stetson has released various solo releases, including his debut and subsequent albums ''New History Warfare Vol. 1, 2, & 3,'' a collaborative studio album with violinist Sarah Neufeld entitled '' Never Were the Way She Was'' (2015), ''Sorrow: A Reimagining of Henryk Górecki's 3rd Symphony'' (2016), and '' All This I Do for Glory'' (2017). Since 2013, Stetson has contributed the scores to several films and television series.

Background

Born in

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...

and currently based in

Montreal, Quebec Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Stetson started taking lessons at age 15. He attended the University of Michigan School of Music with a full scholarship, where he joined Transmission Trio. He also played with the groups Boostamonte and the People's Bizarre. Stetson has performed and recorded with dozens of artists, including

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on society's underworld and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He began in the American folk music, fo ...

TV on the Radio TV on the Radio (TVOTR) is an American rock music, rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2001. The band consists of Tunde Adebimpe (vocals, loops), Dave Sitek (guitars, keyboards, loops), Kyp Malone (vocals, guitars, bass, loops), and ...

, Feist, and

. His extended saxophone techniques cover advanced circular breathing, multiphonics, altissimo, microtones, (reed) vocalizations, percussive valve-work, clicking keys, and

growling Growling is a low, guttural Animal communication, vocalization produced by animals as an aggression, aggressive warning but can also be found in other contexts such as playful behaviors or mating. Different animals will use growling in specific ...

. The overall effect led ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' film critic Anthony Lane to describe Stetson's score to the film ''Hereditary'' as having been seemingly "scored for violins, percussion, a humpback whale, and bats."

Solo career

His first solo album, ''New History Warfare, Vol. 1'', was released in 2008. His second and third albums, '' New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges and New History Warfare Vol. 3: To See More Light,'' were released by Constellation Records in early 2011. On June 16, the album was named as a longlisted nominee for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize, and shortlisted on July 6. Stetson was chosen by

Jeff Mangum Jeffrey Nye Mangum (born 24 October 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who gained prominence as the founder, songwriter, vocalist and guitarist of Neutral Milk Hotel, as well for his co-founding of The Elephant 6 Recording Comp ...

Neutral Milk Hotel Neutral Milk Hotel was an American band formed by Jeff Mangum in Ruston, Louisiana, in 1989. They were active until 1998, and then from 2013 to 2015. The band's music featured a deliberately low-quality sound, influenced by indie rock and psy ...

to perform at the

All Tomorrow's Parties "All Tomorrow's Parties" is a song by the Velvet Underground and Nico, written by Lou Reed and released as the band's debut single in 1966. The song is from their 1967 debut studio album, ''The Velvet Underground & Nico''. Inspiration for the so ...

festival that he curated in December 2011 in

Minehead Minehead is a coastal town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It lies on the south bank of the Bristol Channel, north-west of the county town of Taunton, from the boundary with the county of Devon and close to the Exmoor National Park. T ...

, England. The final album of the trilogy, '' New History Warfare Vol. 3: To See More Light'', was released by Constellation Records in April 2013, and was a longlist nominee for the 2013 Polaris Music Prize. April 2015 saw the release of '' Never Were the Way She Was'', the first recording of Stetson's duo project with his then wife and long-time collaborator Sarah Neufeld. Stetson's album '' All This I Do for Glory'' was released on April 28, 2017. In 2022 he released the drone-inspired album ''Chimæra I''. It was followed a year later by the minimalist ''When We Were That What Wept for the Sea''. In September 2024, Stetson released ''The Love It Took to Leave You''.

Discography

Solo albums/As leader

*''Tiny Beast'' (2003) with Transmission Trio *''Slow Descent'' (2003) *''New History Warfare Vol. 1'' (2007) *''The Righteous Wrath of an Honorable Man 7"'' (2010) *'' New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges'' (2011) *''Those Who Didn't Run EP'' (2011) *'' New History Warfare Vol. 3: To See More Light'' (2013) *''Sorrow: A Reimagining of Gorecki's 3rd Symphony'' (2016) *'' All This I Do for Glory'' (2017) *''Chimæra I'' (2022) *''When We Were That What Wept for the Sea'' (2023) *''The Love It Took to Leave You'' (2024)

Soundtrack albums

* '' Blue Caprice'' (2013) * '' La Peur'' (2015) * '' Outlaws and Angels'' (2016) * '' Hereditary'' (2018) * ''The First'' (2018) * '' Color Out of Space'' (2020) * '' Barkskins'' (2020) * ''Deliver Us'' (2020) * ''The War Show'' (2020) * ''

Mayday Mayday is an emergency procedure word used internationally as a distress signal in voice-procedure radio communications. It is used to signal a life-threatening emergency primarily by aviators and mariners, but in some countries local organiz ...

'' (2021) * '' Texas Chainsaw Massacre'' (2022) * ''Among the Stars'' (2022) * '' The Menu (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)'' (2022) * '' Uzumaki'' (2024) * ''Martha'' (2024)

Collaborations with other artists

* Gringo Blaster (2002) with Michael Kowalski * ''Stones'' (2012) with Mats Gustafsson * '' Never Were the Way She Was'' (2015) with Sarah Neufeld * ''Ex Eye'' (2017) with Ex Eye (Greg Fox, Shahzad Ismaily, Toby Summerfield) * '' Radiate'' (2015) with

The Chemical Brothers The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands in Manchester in 1992. They were pioneers in bringing the big beat genre to the forefront of pop culture. Originally known as The Dust Brothers, th ...

* '' Confessions Pt II'' (2016) with

BadBadNotGood BadBadNotGood (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian instrumental band and Hip hop production, production team from Toronto, Canada. The group was founded in 2010 by bassist Chester Hansen, keyboardist Matthew Tavares, and drummer Alexander Sowinsk ...

* '' The Long Road North'' (2022) with

Cult of Luna Cult of Luna is a Swedish post-metal band from Umeå founded in 1998. Their style of music is similar to contemporary bands Neurosis and Isis. Cult of Luna was signed to Earache Records in the early 2000s and released five albums, including th ...

* ''Void Patrol'' (2022) with Void Patrol (Elliott Sharp, Billy Martin, Payton MacDonald) * '' No Highs'' (2023) with Tim Hecker * ''Carry Them with Us'' (2023) with Brìghde Chaimbeul

As sideman

With

*'' Blood Money'' (2002) *''

Alice Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

'' (2002) *'' Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards'' (2006) With

*'' Neon Bible'' (2007) *''

The Suburbs ''The Suburbs'' is the third studio album by Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire, released on August 3, 2010. Coinciding with its announcement, the band released a limited edition 12-inch single containing the title track and "Month of May".

'' (2010) *'' Reflektor'' (2013) With

*'' Dear Science'' (2008) With Jolie Holland *'' The Living and the Dead'' (2008) With Feist *''

Metals A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. These properties are all associated with having electrons available at the Fermi level, as against no ...

'' (2011) With Esmerine *''La Lechuza'' (2011) With Timber Timbre *'' Creep on Creepin' On'' (2011) *'' Hot Dreams'' (2014) With

*'' Bon Iver, Bon Iver'' (2011) *'' 22, A Million'' (2016) With

David Gilmour David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter who is a member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined in 1967, shortly before the departure of the founder member Syd Barrett. By the early 1980s, Pink F ...

*'' Rattle That Lock'' (2015) With

*'' IV'' (2016) With Animal Collective *'' Painting With'' (2016) With Sarah Neufeld *''The Ridge'' (2016) With Marcus Hamblett *''Detritus'' (2019)

Filmography

Film

Documentary film

Television

Video game

References

External links

Colin Stetson website

Embedded In The Skull: Colin Stetson's Favourite LPs
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The Quietus ''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics. Content ''The Quietu ...

(March 2017) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stetson, Colin 1975 births American expatriates in Canada American saxophonists American male saxophonists Arcade Fire members Bon Iver members Constellation Records (Canada) artists Juno Award for Instrumental Album of the Year winners Living people Musicians from Ann Arbor, Michigan University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance alumni 21st-century American saxophonists Grammy Award winners