Olivier Alary & Johannes Malfatti

Olivier Alary & Johannes Malfatti (alumni)

Olivier Alary and Johannes Malfatti have been collaborating for twenty years, including working on numerous film projects together. Originally from Toulouse and now based in Montreal, Olivier previously worked under the Ensemble alias, in which Johannes participated as mixer, arranger and co-writer. Ensemble's 2000 debut ('Sketch Proposals' released on Aphex Twin's Rephlex label) led to Bjork drafting Olivier to co-write the track 'Desired Constellation' and to remix several others. Releasing two further Ensemble albums on FatCat (including contributions from Cat Power and Lou Barlow), since 2010 Olivier switched his focus and worked increasingly on composing for film and exhibitions. In June 2016 he signed to FatCat's 130701 imprint, with his own-name debut 'Fiction/Non-Fiction being in March 2017.

Berlin-based composer/sound artist Johannes Malfatti graduated from Germany's Film and Television School HFF Konrad Wolf. His prolific work for film, television, theatre and music projects has ranged in style from electronic music to orchestral composition. With two recent albums under his own name, Johannes' solo work focuses on contemporary and experimental techniques, often combining acoustic and electronic elements to create rich and slowly moving sonic environments.

The first collaborative release under their own names, 'u,i ' continues the pair's long-standing research and to explore the grey areas between noise and musicality; the acoustic and electronic. 'u,i ' is a brilliant exploration of mediated modern communication, which strikes a powerful resonance with our recently heightened experiences of connection and isolation under pandemic conditions. The album was recorded over VOIP (voice over internet protocol), with both pre-recorded and live performances of acoustic and electronic instruments sent over the internet and re-recorded whilst playing with bandwidth reduction to generate accidents.