Gilles Gobeil

Canadian electro-acoustician Gilles Gobeil is one of the important composers associated with the Montreal label Empreintes DIGITALes. His works show an obsession with machines and extreme sonic textures: delicate soundscapes blown to smithereens by the thunderous "bang!" of a door slamming shut. Not as prolific as labelmates Robert Normandeau and Yves Daoust, he has nonetheless a more personal style, even though some may say his output is a bit unidimensional. Born in Sorel (Quebec, Canada) in 1954, Gobeil studied music at the Université de Montreal, where he earned an M.A. in composition in 1986. He was selected for residencies at the Groupe de Musique Électroacoustique de Bourges (France, 1991), the Groupe de Recherche Musicale (France, 1993), and the Banff Centre for Arts (Canada, 1993 and 1995). He has won prizes at many international competitions, including Ars Electronica and Bourges. In the late '90s he co-founded Réseaux, a Montreal-based organization dedicated to promote electro-acoustic music concerts. His first CD, La Mécanique des Ruptures, was released in 1994 by Empreintes DIGITALes. The composer's style was immediately recognizable: industrial sounds, ample gestures, violent contrasts. A second CD, ...Dans le Silence de la Nuit..., came out in 2001. ~ François Couture