Biography
Montreal-based multidisciplinary collective Organ Mood shapes unique audio-visual experiences that place their audiences at the center of a synaesthetic creative event. The group is defined as much by its visual identity as its sound. Their luminous hyper-melodic compositions ramble and range through hypnotic landscapes of synthetic sound, paired live with low-fi live projections and ambient light shows to create a singular 360-degree immersive world. After over 10 years as a duo, Organ Mood expanded to four members, challenging and adding depth to their format while staying true to the vision of keeping improvisation, experimentation, and audience connection at their heart.
Montreal-based Organ Mood is driven by a desire to shape unique atmospheric experiences that place their audiences at the center of a synaesthetic creative event. With links to many iconic Montreal bands, the group is defined as much by its visual identity as by its sound, harmonizing both in a multidisciplinary creative collective with improvisation and audience connection at its heart.
The group began in 2008, when visual artist Mathieu Jacques met improvisational sound experimenter Christophe Lamarche-Ledoux (Lesser Evil, Chocolat, feu doux). Their occasional collaborations solidified into a more permanent project pairing visual and musical experimentation, as Jacques’ abstract geometric and organic patterns projected through on acetates mirrored Lamarche’s rhythmic compositions on electronic instruments.
Inspired by the culture and aesthetics of 1980s German space rock/Krautrock, Organ Mood crafts luminous hyper-melodic compositions that ramble and range through hypnotic landscapes of synthetic sound, paired live with low-fi live projections and light shows. Together, their creative practice immerses the public into a singular audio-visual universe.
Over a decade in, the duo decided to expand and enrich the group with two new members. Mathieu Charbonneau, who also plays with Avec Pas d’Casque, contributes modular synths and keyboards, while Estelle Frenette-Vallières (les Louanges, Chocolat, Bernard Adamus) rejigs vintage spotlights to create idiosyncratic lighting effects that flesh out Jacques’ analog projections. These additions add depth to the collective’s audio-visual presence, with new sounds and a more atmospheric approach to lighting that enfolds audiences into a 360-degree immersive world.
Organ Mood is poised to continue expanding their reach in a multidisciplinary practice that adamantly refuses the myth of artists’ creative greatness by engaging a “horizontal” performative stance. The band plays on the floor rather than on-stage, to establish a more egalitarian and participatory rapport with audiences while framing the experience as “a background for your own thoughts.”
