Benoît Pioulard is Thomas Meluch, Michigan-based singer-songwriter still in his 20s, who's debut album 'Précis' came out last year on Kranky Records and gained a lot of positive feedback from critics and fans. Thomas was kind enough to waste some time with us answering a few questions via e-mail.



LT: First question is a stupid one: who is Benoît Pioulard and why are you using
this name for making your music? (if there is a specific reason)


BP: Benoît Pioulard is mostly a name for the sake of having a name, since it's never really felt appropriate to use my given one for recordings; I'm not entirely sure why this is, though it likely has to do with the fact that I don't consider myself a proper musician as much as I feel like a hobbyist or a mere pair of hands for wherever these songs come from. And that barely makes sense to me... The name itself appeared out of nowhere as well, like many good things do.


LT: Do you we guess a France/french culture fascination on your side? (a few songs on the album have french titles)


BP: Indeed, I have studied the French language for around half of my life now, thanks in part to my mother's fascination with the culture when I was young, and though I'm actually of Eastern European and Scandinavian descent it didn't seem inappropriate to incorporate some of those prettier things into this rather personal project of mine.


LT: You've been recording a number of demos/cd-r's over the years; eventually Kranky Records released your debut the album. That probably explains why the songs in the album show a very mature sound; but I wonder: is the early material similar to what we've listened to in the record and in the recent 7" 'Fir' (Type Records)?


BP: I would say that there are parallels within everything I've ever recorded, even though other ears might be hard-pressed to find them; every so often I'll listen again to an old CD or tape from my days using a four-track machine, and realize that I've had a lot of the same ideas all along. The major difference I may cite is that the pieces I made before the age of 17 or 18 had almost no vocals, as that's an element I had to grow into, having had no training whatsoever as a singer. I feel fortunate at this point to have a recording setup that allows me to expand my sonic palette and develop my songs to the degree of fullness that I hear in my head, because it wasn't always that way.


LT: Tell us about the making-of 'Précis': where did you record it? what
instruments did you use to record it? and did you do it all by yourself or you had some collaboration?


BP: I made the entire album (with the exception of field recordings and piano parts) in the corner of my little room here in Michigan using every instrument I have from a collection that's been building since I was 10 or 11 years old; these include guitars (two acoustic, one electric), bass, cello, dulcimer, bells, various drums and found percussion instruments, an effects pedal, drum machine, tape recorders and some other it's... essentially whatever I would need to sculpt the sounds that occurred in my head while recording. The only bit on the album I didn't create is the brief trombone part that appears in "Palimend", since I haven't yet found the opportunity to learn how to play brass.


LT: Listening to your music we see you crafting a personal folk style; you use a lot of acoustic guitars, but you also seem very able to drawn this acoustic sounds with elecotronic layers, noises from field-recordings (I'm guessing)... we are a little lost, so tell us: what are your musical influeneces or references?


BP: I was something of a musical obsessive as a teenager, and in my formative years of record-buying some of my favorites included Broadcast, Wire, Slint and the first three Velvet Underground records; by about age 14 I became quite enamored of Warp (and Kranky, in fact) and during that time I'd probably cite their roster as my biggest influence, most especially Boards of Canada, Vincent Gallo and Mira Calix. For the last few years, however, I've listened to little else besides William Basinski, Freescha and a few select others, as I find them least obtrusive to the mindset I tend to adopt while recording.


LT: Do you get chances to play live gigs in the US?


BP: There have definitely been more requests for this type of thing lately, though I have always been aware that I'm not a natural live performer when I'm on my own. I've played drums for several bands, and in a group dynamic like that I can work much more easily, but as far as Benoît material, I'm not sure there will ever be a live show that sounds like what I record; the ones I’ve done thus far are mostly noisy, drone-based improvisations using new & old elements from various songs, plus guitar, tapes and pedals. Generally the reactions have been positive, but I know for sure that at least a few people absolutely hated that style... so it goes. I explained it to a friend of mine by likening my music-making process to that of a painter, in that you probably wouldn't ask a painter to go on tour, recreating his works under a spotlight with a severely limited palette; in this way I don't think a live performance of my little songs would come across in an effective way.


LT: What can you tell us about your future plans and future releases?


BP: I'm committed to a second album with Kranky, though it's really far too early to say anything about it except that it will happen sooner or later. I've had the rare chance to be in seclusion this winter, and have been working on lots of new material and a few other projects with varying degrees of applicability to the Benoît name. I never, ever expected Précis to receive the kind of praise that it has, though the very fact of it inspires me to continue what I'm doing in order to ideally strengthen that connection with those who have been gracious enough to listen and respond.


---


-Discography:
Enge (7”EP), Moodgadget 2005
Précis (CD), Kranky 2006
Fir (7”EP), Type 2007

-Links:
BP's Official Site
BP @ Myspace
Kranky Records
Type Records


ANDREA FIRRINCIELI