Nicolas Bernier
Sur le diapason
The art of the tuning fork: the manifesto of the sound artist, performer and composer Nicolas Bernier. Sound artist, performer and composer Nicolas Bernier (born 1977 in Ottawa, Canada, lives and works in Montreal, Québec) creates audiovisual performances and installations aiming to carve a dialogue between sound and tangible matter. Shaped by his work within the fields of cinema, literature, dance and theatre companies, his own language blend together elements of music, photography, design, sci…
Frequencies
Edition of 200. This is the last release in the series of Nicolas Bernier’s worldwide
acclaimed and Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica awarded project
“frequencies”. The piece frequencies (a / archives) is a composition based on sounds
from the scientific archives of Rennes 1 University (France). This
impressive collection of antique scientific apparatus includes one of
the few remaining "Grand Diapason" built by Rudolph Koenig circa 1880.
The two gigantic forks of the Grand diapason can gen…
Travaux Mecaniques
Nicolas Bernier is certainly one of the most prolific of the younger generation of electroacoustic composers. Mostly known for his performances, installations, and atmospheric music, he signs here a first album of musique concrète / acousmatics. We will again find his clever amalgam of aesthetic influences to which he has accustomed us, but in his most daring bill. A unique blend of musique concrète made of exalted ruptures (L…
frequencies (a / fragments)
Frequencies is an ongoing process focusing on basic sound generation systems. For this edition, frequencies (a / fragments) the system consists of a series of custom made devices in which computer-controlled solenoids activate a variety of tuning forks. The resulting sound fragments, when articulated in conjunction with synthetic sine waves, create frictions between the acoustic and electronic elements. The tuning fork, producing a sound closest to a pure sinewave, provides a historical linkage …
Strings.Lines
Created between September 2008 and February 2010 in the artist's studio. Viola da gamba: Pierre-Yves Martel. Violin: Chris Bartos. 'strings.lines' came to life from an obsession for old and forgotten object-matter and the desire to produce music that exists in between the new and the old. The starting point to the composition of this work were acoustic tuning forks. In 2007 Nicolas Bernier became fascinated with this object/instrument of particularly beautiful design, and started a collec…
usure.paysage
Usure.paysage combines the strongest particles of Bernier's kaleidoscopic oeuvre: an expressive mix of lively field recordings, tiny and massive electronics and sparkling relocations. The docker barks out aloud, the little insect crawls through the 19th century woodworker's atelier, forgotten voices vanish and the rest is no silence. This is truly some of the finest musique concrète ever to be released on vinyl - very charming.The antiquarian aesthetic of a fastidious watchmaker mingles with …
Courant.Air
It is the continuation of a body of work intertwining instrumental and electronic music following the acclaimed 2004-2008 work les arbres (Mention, Prix Ars Electronica 2009). The mixture this time is more edgy : a rich and complex electronic sound composition alongside the folk inspired guitar played by Simon Trottier (member of the extraordinary haunted blues band Timber Timbre). After 2 albums of improvised folktronica with Simon Trottier, Nicolas Bernier decided to explore that singu…