Perfor­mance: Ensemble Economique

SALT Beyoğlu, Walk-in Cinema

Ensemble Economique is Brian Pyle of Starving Weirdos and RV Paintings. His solo project (hence the slightly ironic moniker) has released various albums, splits and EPs on labels such as Digitalis, Amish, Not Not Fun, Dekorder and Denovali Records.

Since their emergence in 2007 from the wilds of Northern California as Starving Weirdos, the duo of Brian Pyle and Merrick McKinlay have been one of the experimental underground’s most consistent entities. Ensemble Economique is Pyle’s solo project covering the drone / psychedelic soundscapes. Utilizing a minimal arsenal of ’80s style synths and drum loops, occasional vocal samples, drones and processed noise, Ensemble Economique’s music feels extremely cinematic in nature. It is cinematic not in that ubiquitous soundtrack-to-a-movie-that-doesn’t-exist way (as if that’s not the effect of most music anyway), but more in its strong narrative flow, its choice of sonic tropes and widescreen atmospheres; these extended pieces feel like they are about something.

Exploiting the freedom of isolation, Pyle utilizes found sounds, field recordings and musical performance that he later meticulously edits, layers, and loops in the studio. The dramatic outcome of these processes and the conceptual rigor of Ensemble Economique evidences Pyle as an important new composer emerging out of the long and storied tradition of West Coast experimentalism.

The fifth performance of Expeditions in Sound and Music, a collaborative series between SALT and Undomundo, is open to all.