esm.doi.bio/pascal_savy


Pascal Savy

Pascal Savy is a French electronic music composer and performer based in London. His work combines drone, noise, and ambient styles, and has been released on labels such as Experimedia, AUDIO. VISUALS. ATMOSPHERE., Cyclic Law, and Twisted Trees.

Early Life and Career

Savy's early influences included techno from Detroit and New York, and artists such as Autechre. He bought his first cheap sequencer/synth in 1997, followed by an Atari ST and other machines. He has spoken about his early fascination with machines, sound, and electronic music, and how this fascination continues to inform his work.

Notable Works

Savy's notable works include:

Creative Process

Savy works on his albums over long periods, allowing him to gain different perspectives on the emotive moments that inform his compositions. He takes a lateral approach to instruments, viewing a guitar, for example, as a "tone box." He is influenced by the concept of decontextualisation, often removing the body of a familiar sound to leave only its shell, and then recontextualising it through cross-pollination with other sounds.

Other Projects

In addition to his music, Savy has contributed writing to the online magazine Fluid Radio.

Pascal Savy

Pascal Savy is a French electronic music composer and performer based in London. His work combines drone, noise, and ambient styles, and has been released on labels such as Experimedia, AUDIO. VISUALS. ATMOSPHERE., Cyclic Law, and Twisted Trees.

Early Life and Career Beginnings

Savy's early influences included techno from Detroit and New York, and artists from the Autechre scene. He bought his first cheap sequencer/synth in 1997, followed by a second-hand Atari ST, and soon after, a few more machines. He spent a lot of time learning how the machines worked and developing his own musical vocabulary through trial and error. He was also self-taught in audio engineering. During this time, he was drawn to the unstructured and unpredictable style of electronic and ambient music, as opposed to the heavily regulated beats of techno and dance.

Notable Works

Savy's notable works include:

His creative process involves working on albums over long periods, allowing him to gain different perspectives on emotive moments that inform his compositions. He takes an unconventional approach to instruments, viewing a guitar, for example, as a "tone box".

Savy's work is influenced by the concept of decontextualisation, where he removes the recognisable form of an instrument, effectively de-territorialising sound. He then explores the philosophies of re-territorialisation by combining newly discovered sounds with remnants of original recordings.

Other Projects

Outside of his music career, Savy has contributed writing to the online magazine Fluid Radio. He also has an interest in synthetic music, having started his musical journey with raves and techno.

Pascal Savy

Biography

Pascal Savy is a French electronic music composer and performer based in London. His work combines drone, noise, and ambient styles, and has been released on labels such as Experimedia, AUDIO. VISUALS. ATMOSPHERE., and Cyclic Law, and Twisted Trees. Savy's creative process involves gathering sounds from various locations, including churches, gardens, and windmills, and manipulating them using electronic and instrumental techniques. He is particularly interested in the concept of decontextualisation, often removing the recognisable form of instruments like guitars and pianos, leaving only their resonant shells.

Early Life and Career

Savy's early influences included the techno music originating from Detroit and New York in the 1990s. In 1997, he bought a cheap sequencer/synth, followed by an Atari ST, and began to experiment with music production, developing his own musical vocabulary through trial and error. He also studied audio engineering and the work of influential artists like Autechre.

Notable Works

Musical Style and Influences

Savy's music is characterised by its abstract, symbolic, and emotional qualities, with a focus on creating a particular space for the listener. He is influenced by the work of Gilles Deleuze and FĂ©lix Guattari, particularly their book 'A Thousand Plateaus', which has informed his exploration of decontextualisation and deterritorialisation.

Creative Process

Savy works on his albums over long periods, allowing him to gain different perspectives on the emotive moments that inform his compositions. He often uses guitars and looper/delay devices to create tone boxes, building tracks around these foundations before sometimes discarding the original guitar parts. He also employs cross-pollination between tracks, extracting and transforming sounds to create a rhizomatic structure across an EP.

Views on Music and Art

Savy values the physical presentation of music, preferring albums with cover art, liner notes, and other tangible elements that add weight to the listening experience. He acknowledges the challenges of standing out in a crowded musical landscape but sees this as an opportunity for artists to be creative in reaching audiences. While he is interested in political and social questions, his music is more focused on psychological and existential themes.