Associated project
Photo credits
Léo Chastan
Xavier plays every instrument on this planet—and beyond. To do so, he simply presses a key on his sampler. This device is connected by cables to a synthesizer and a laptop, both operating with an impeccable sense of order and geometry.
He is passionate about the apparent contradictions that link studio music production and live performance.
It all began when he was five years old. At home, he would listen obsessively to a pink 17-centimeter 33 RPM vinyl (Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Scherzo) and dance frantically around the record player. Since DJ turntables didn’t exist yet, his parents enrolled him in piano lessons. Many years later, he experienced two back-to-back artistic epiphanies. The first came during a concert by the Groupe de Musiques Vivantes de Lyon (GMVL), where he discovered electroacoustic music and immediately decided to move to Paris to study with Pierre Schaeffer at the Conservatoire. The second happened when a friend dragged him to a concert by La Marmite Infernale. It was a total shock. Dazed by this world so different from his own, he extended an invitation for a collaboration between ARFI and GMVL and eventually joined the collective.
His extensive list of past and present collaborations includes Brian Eno, Heiner Goebbels, Chris Cutler, Ensemble Modern, Jean-Paul Delore, Laurent Vercelletto, André Wilms, Julyen Hamilton, and Lionel Marchetti.
At ARFI, Xavier currently performs with L’Effet Vapeur, Actuel Remix, La Marmite Infernale, and Labyrinthe d’une ligne. He has also played with Ces Messieurs, Potemkine, Electric Duo, Villerd/Ayler Quartet, Arfolia Libra, and DarkPoe.