Ensemble Economique
(no thing-ness)
"(no thing-ness)" comes hot on the heels of Brian Pyle’s latest highly acclaimed Ensemble Economique album on the Not Not Fun label. While "The Fever Logic L.P." saw him head diving into a sort of ambient goth pop this brand new 12“ appears to be more influenced by industrial, almost EBM-ish textures. The atmosphere seems more aggressive with an almost militaristic touch, and titles like "New Banking System" hint at the source of this anger. Combined with Pyle’s cinematic tension this makes for …
In Silhouette
The master of atmospheric magick and nuance, Brian Pyle a.k.a. Ensemble Economique returns to Denovali with the latest findings of his endless search in the shadows. With In Silhouette the revered artist and engineer commits some of his sharpest, most absorbing synthesis at the service of a cryptic, underlying narrative which never fully gives up its secrets but keeps you guessing by way of adroit inference and suggestion. Quite crucially it all feels somehow fresh yet deeply timeless, distillin…
Blossoms In Red
Based in Californian Humboldt County, Brian Pyle wanders the world on his countless travels. Far from being restless, he has his very own Pylesque way of travelling. Much like a Lynchian version of Hemingway, he has an eye for the thin layer between restlessness and relaxation, gloom and serenity. Wherever he goes, he ardently absorbes these nuances, rarefies them and moulds them into a seamless array of glimmering styles, from drone and ambient to shoegaze and post-wave, giving birth to …
Melt into nothing
“Melt Into Nothing” is Ensemble Economique’s most lucid seance to date. The prolific Humboldt County musician has stripped layers off of his trademark haze but retained the beautiful desolation that’s earned him a rabid fanbase. The solo project of former Starving Weirdos member Brian Pyle, Ensemble Economique has crossed a land bridge from apocryphal world music and dusty soundtracks to gauzy 4AD-style atmospherics. Trellises of guitar embolden Pyle’s whispered, threadbare lyrics. On “Hey Baby”…
Interval Signals
Brian Pyle is becoming a big name in disquieting ambient and haunted audio, and two new releases (this and Light that Comes, Light that Goes) from him this week aptly explain why. Interval Signals is an enticingly evocative story, a single-take journey through a series of interiors and exteriors spaces layered with memories and geographies. Melancholy like an old crime scene, its mixture of ancient broadcasts, echoes trapped in the dusty twentieth-century telephone network, spiritualistic tuned …
Light that comes, light that goes
One of two new releases from Brian Pyle (the other being 'Interval Signals'), Light that comes is a rich exploration of Ensemble Economique's range and power. With a palpable sense of the sublime throughout, the listener is guided through drones like the pillars and buttresses of a cathedral for a sombre new religion, into the sounds of the ocean (somehow elegiac), flute tones springing up in the fog like gravestones, and fallen kosmische. These are followed by the wonderfully odd 'As the Train …
Fever Logic
Ensemble Economique has emerged as an unusually globe-trotting creative valve for Arcata, CA, beachcomber Brian Pyle. The last year alone has seen him backpacking through Scandinavia, Europe and Russia—twice. Maybe his spirit’s too absorbent, ’cause he’s brought back some deeply heavier moods and ancient world weariness since his last outing on Not Not Fun, 2010’s demonic tribal monsoon Psychical. Recent splits with similarly instinctual psychedelic unclassifiables like Lee Noble and Her…
Split LP
Ensemble Economique and Heroin In Tahiti are an outstanding pairing for a split LP" It’s a well-known story: the bluesmen sold their souls at dusty crossroads back in the old days. Far less is known about a younger generation’s deal with the devil, their affinity towards dark forces and black magic. Their hypnagogic highway to hell and success goes en route Tahiti where souls no longer can be sold because they’re already lost in secret Voodoo rites. The music that springs from having experienced…
Crossing The Pass By Torchlight
"it's an exquisite feeling, to taste the truth, to let it wrap you completely, to feel it's ecstatic warmth, to let it ripple through you, to let you feel life with every breath, as if day and night are colliding, and sparks exploding, and the sky turning deep red, and night falls like a blanket, and the wind is a soft whisper, and the dune grass are like blades, piercing blackness. ensemble economique is brian pyle of starving weirdos and rv painting. his solo project has previously rele…
At The Foot Of Nameless Roads
"By now, just about everyone is familiar with the mighty Starving Weirdos and their otherworldly junkyard drones. Last year, the world was introduced to another band of mystics from the Weirdos camp called RV Paintings. One of the constant threads from both of those bands is the inimitable Brian Pyle. Ensemble Economique is Pyle's debut foray into the solo forest. At The Foot Of Nameless Roads is a masterpiece of an album, filled to the brim with cacophonous melodies, meditative auditory chants,…
Standing Still, Facing
The primary step in understanding Standing Still, Facing Forward is to recognize Ensemble Economique is Brian Pyle. Brian Pyle is Ensemble Economique. This is the first LP release from Ensemble Economique. Digitalis issued the At the Foot of Nameless Roads CD in 2008. Ensemble Economique's fantastic earliest recording, entitled No GPS, was bundled as a CDr with a limited initial pressing of At the Foot, but has yet to be properly issued. Both recordings are important primers to Pyle'…
Psychical
An all-out stunner from Brian Pyles aka California's Starving Weirdos, joining in on NNF's current soundtrack-y agenda with an incredible solo album. 'Psychical' is about as heavy as they come, for synthesized dreams of dark African dread and blood curdling ambience, at least. The whole album plays through like a movie itself, tracks blending into one another like scenes to effectively toy with your senses of fear and what-the-f**k comes next... doom laden drones blacken the horizon to all…