Benoît Pioulard has been incredibly prolific this year. Back in March, he put out his celestial fifth full-length album Sonnet, and he followed it with two accompanying pieces, Stanza and Stanza II, released in April and last month. Exciting news of a follow-up have just emerged. Thomas Meluch, the singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist behind the project, has announced the release of Noyaux, which translates from the French to “seeds” or “kernels”, a core to life and growth. Featuring four tracks, the EP “sees Meluch building on his more loop-based productions, a touching blend of weightless drones and yearningly sluggish melodies”, as the press release described.
Noyaux came to life after Meluch had seen a collection of family photos. “I began remembering a lot of things and events that I hadn’t thought about in 20 years,” said Meluch. Dazzled and inspired by this recollection of the past, he crafted these four tracks, each representing a member of his family – father, mother, brother and himself.
Noyaux will see the light of day on November 6th via Morr Music. Ahead of it, we can already hear the wonderful and ethereal title track.

Back in March, Benoît Pioulard dropped his celestial full length Sonnet, which he followed the month after with a low-key companion piece called Stanza. But there’s no stopping Thomas Meluch, the marvelous and prolific singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist behind the project, who is putting out Stanza II next month. Head over to his bandcamp to grab one of the few remaining handmade CD’s, or a digital copy. And for a taster of what’s on offer, here’s two enchanting tracks from Stanza, ‘X’ and ‘XI’.

We’re only a week away from the release of Benoît Pioulard‘s new album, Sonnet. Pioulard had already enticed us with the gentle and dreamy single ‘So etched in memory’. Now the song is being paired with a video made by Sean Curtis Patrick. There’s more good news from the singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He shared recently the delightful ‘a shade of celadon’, also off the upcoming Sonnet. Check out the video for ‘So etched in memory’ below and straight after let yourself drift into ‘a shade of celadon’.

Sonnet is out on March 30th via Kranky.

Two years after the release of Hymnal, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Benoît Pioulard aka Thomas Meluch is ready to follow it up. His fifth solo album, Sonnet, arrives on March 30th via Kranky.
Here’s what Meluch said about his upcoming album:

“The basis of the album was a series of field recordings of tones and unintentional harmonies that I made in the summer & fall of 2013 – whistling industrial air conditioners, bird songs, locust drones, washing machines – that I mimicked or interpreted on the guitar, making loops that developed into fuller compositions…


 …Several of the pieces are recreations of harmony loops that I heard in a series of extraordinarily vivid dreams, and then woke up and recorded. A few pieces had lyrics and vocal parts that I ultimately removed; at a certain point the album became an exercise in restraint, so I strove to leave only what I felt absolutely essential…

…Unlike most of my previous recordings, there are no digital / software after-effects on the album; all sounds are from analog tape and / or my few guitar pedals.”

Ahead of the album’s release, Benoît Pioulard is enticing us with the first gentle, warm and dreamy new track ‘So etched in memory’. Listen to it below and check out the album trailer straight after.