Julien Desprez is a musician and performer based in Paris. Jazz and rock were his early musical loves, but they evolved rapidly to free forms where body and space find their places through sound. As his practice progressed as well as his conception and approach to his instrument, the music and space changed. He is now considering the guitar more like a battery, an organ, a modifiable instrument deployable at will. Through a mix of actions on the instrument and a play of foot on effect pedals, taking inspiration from the technique of Tap Dance, it completely opened the possibilities, sound and physical environment of the instrument. This results in a practice where body is engaged to its fullest.
Now evolving between sound art, performance and contemporary improvisational music, his work today is centred around all the questions that exist within a stage space, through body, space, sight and light, but where the sound remains the central pillar. Julien is also a co-founder of the Collectif Coax, a music cooperative based in Paris and created in 2008, which was recently labelled “Compagnie Nationale” by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication. He’s also played with Charlie Haden, Mats Gustafson, Jeanne Added, Edward Perraud, Thomas Depourquery, François Jeanneau, Louis Sclavis, Stephane Payen, Guillaume Orti, Benoit Delbecq, Tortoise, Han Bennink, Hubert Dupont, Rob Mazurek, Jef Parker, Frank Vaillant, Gilles Coronado, Beniat Achary, Noël Ackchoté, David Grubbs, Doug Wamble, Marc Ducret, Sylvain Darrifourcq, Eve Risser, Mederic Collignon, Magic Malik, Emmanuel Bex et Hasse Poulsen.
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News
- SHAPE+ announces 2024/2025 roster of artists
- SHAPE+ announces 2023/2024 roster of artists
- SHAPE+ platform announces open call for 2023/2024
- Resonance FM show on Varg, Julien Desprez and Anna Zaradny in Riga
- Pictures: Skaņu Mežs at Riga’s White Night event
- Listen to a mix by Julien Desprez for ResonanceEXTRA
- Listen to our latest Resonance FM radio show with Machine Woman, Mike Rijnierse & Julien Desprez
- Light, body, space, music: An interview with Julien Desprez
- Photos: SHAPE @ Novas Frequências
- SHAPE platform announces artist list of 2017
- SHAPE reveals showcase at Novas Frequências