Ensemble Economique at Acud / Thursday, 30.03.2016

Ensemble Economique is Brian Pyle of Starving Weirdos and RV Paintings. His solo project (hence the slightly ironic moniker), which could be probably briefly classified as ambient / drone / psychedelic / shoegaze, has released various albums, splits and EPs on labels such as Digitalis, Amish, Not Not Fun, Dekorder and Clan Destine so far, before joining forces with Denovali Records in 2012.

Brian lives in Humboldt county, a very isolated part of northern California which is probably one of the only places left in California where you can live on the beach and pay $500 per month rent, where both poor and rich can enjoy the profound beauty of this nature in equal measure. An epic coastline, the redwoods, seven different rivers, these surroundings have a profound impact on Ensemble Economiques’s music, and Pyle is quite aware of this.

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“The nature here is pure drama. There’s so much space to move around here, get lost in. So many places to take LONG walks to nowhere, alone, just you and your thoughts, and some gorgeous scenery. It’s liberating, inspiring. I can see how it fucks up musicians in cities, being around so many other musicians and so many other ideas. I think it makes artists a little bit more self-conscious which maybe isn’t the best thing when you’re trying just to be free.”

Exploiting the freedom of isolation, Brian utilizes found sounds, field recordings, and musical performance that he later meticulously edits, layers, and loops in the studio. The effects of these processes are dramatic, cinematic and conceptually rigorous and this recording evidences Pyle as an important new composer emerging out of the long and storied tradition of West Coast experimentalism.