Table of Contents

Real name: Thomas Meluch, born on 4 August 1984. He 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.

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 EP ‘Enge’ Meluch was signed to Chicago’s Kranky imprint, for whom he recorded the albums ‘Précis’ (2006), ‘Temper’ (2008), ‘Lasted’ (2010), and ‘Hymnal’ (2013).

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. Also in 2014, Meluch contributed a cover version of Cloudbusting to Running Up That Hill: Kate Bush Covers For Reproductive Rights.

Meluch lives in Seattle, Washington with his wife, an antiquarian horologist.

References