Émilie Payeur

Émilie Payeur is young and inspired. “Electroacoustic music is a different kind of music,” she says. “To me, it is even more than music. It’s literally sound painting, and that is why it should be seen from the pictorial composition side.” The influence of painting on her electroacoustic composition is but one of many.

 

How does a child of the ’90s, with a fondness for Pink Floyd, ’60s psychedelia, experimental film, and abstract painting, become an award-winning electroacoustic composer? Well, listen to the end of Pink Floyd’s “Bike,” from their debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, for a musique concrète conclusion to a pop song. The ’60s was a time when cutting-edge composers like Stockhausen and Cage were newsworthy, and popular musicians were not afraid to imitate, or boldly state the influence of, Schaeffer or Varèse. This starting point is where Émilie grew into her current interest, extending it in a line toward Stockhausen’s Kontakte, through composers such as François Bayle, Michel Chion, Francis Dhomont, and—a favourite recording—Bernard Parmegiani’s De Natura Sonorum. Sixties psychedelia continues to be a touchstone for her work as she pursues a master’s degree in electroacoustic music at the University of Montreal.