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Colin Stetson

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Colin Stetson
Stetson at Aarhus Festival, Denmark, 2017
Background information
BornMarch 1975 (age 49)
Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.
Genres
Instruments
Labels
Websitewww.colinstetson.com

Colin Stetson (born March 3, 1975)[1][2] is an American saxophonist, multireedist, and composer based in Montreal.[3][4] He is best known as a regular collaborator of the indie rock acts Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, Bell Orchestre, and Ex Eye. In addition to saxophone, he plays clarinet, bass clarinet, French horn, flute, and cornet.

Stetson has released various solo releases, including his debut and subsequent albums New History Warfare Vol. 1, 2, & 3, a collaborative studio album with violinist Sarah Neufeld entitled Never Were the Way She Was (2015), Sorrow: A Reimagining of Henryk Górecki's 3rd Symphony (2016),[5] and All This I Do for Glory (2017). Since 2013, Stetson has contributed the scores to several films and television series.

Background

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Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan and currently based in Montreal, Quebec, Stetson started taking lessons at age 15.[2] He attended the University of Michigan School of Music with a full scholarship, where he joined Transmission Trio.[6] He also played with the groups Boostamonte and the People's Bizarre.[3]

Stetson has performed and recorded with dozens of artists, including Tom Waits, Arcade Fire, TV on the Radio, Feist, and Bon Iver.[7]

His extended saxophone techniques cover advanced circular breathing, multiphonics, altissimo, microtones, (reed) vocalizations, percussive valve-work, clicking keys, and growling.[8] The overall effect led The New Yorker film critic Anthony Lane to describe Stetson's score to the film Hereditary as having been seemingly "scored for violins, percussion, a humpback whale, and bats."[9]

Solo career

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Colin Stetson at Sled Island Music and Arts Festival, Calgary, 2013.

His first solo album, New History Warfare, Vol. 1, was released in 2008. His second and third albums, New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges and New History Warfare Vol. 3: To See More Light, were released by Constellation Records in early 2011. On June 16, the album was named as a longlisted nominee for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize,[10] and shortlisted on July 6.[4]

Stetson was chosen by Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival that he curated in December 2011 in Minehead, England.[11] The final album of the trilogy, New History Warfare Vol. 3: To See More Light, was released by Constellation Records in April 2013, and was a longlist nominee for the 2013 Polaris Music Prize.[12]

April 2015 saw the release of Never Were the Way She Was, the first recording of Stetson's duo project with his wife and long-time collaborator Sarah Neufeld.[13] Stetson's album All This I Do for Glory was released on April 28, 2017.[14] In 2022 he released the drone-inspired album Chimæra I.[15] It was followed a year later by the minimalist When We Were That What Wept for the Sea.[16] In September 2024, Stetson released The Love It Took to Leave You.[17]

Discography

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Colin Stetson with Ex Eye @ Strange Matter, 2017

Solo albums/As leader

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Soundtrack albums

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Collaborations with other artists

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As sideman

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Filmography

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Colin Stetson.

Film

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Year Title Director Notes
2007 Greyhounds (Short) Kelilyn Mohr McKeever
2012 Rust and Bone Jacques Audiard Composer, Musician: "All the Days I've Missed You (Ilaij I)"
2013 12 Years a Slave Steve McQueen Composer, Musician: "Awake on Foreign Shores"
Blue Caprice Alexandre Moors
2014 The Rover David Michôd Composer, Musician: "Time is Advancing with Fitful Irregularity", "As a Bird or Branch", "Groundswell", "Awake on Foreign Shores"
2015 La Peur Damien Odul
Vi ska bli rappare David Danial Composer, Musician: "Stand, Walk"
Denis the Pirate Sam Messer Composed with Sarah Neufeld
It's About Time (Short) Ivo Briedis
Closet Monster Stephen Dunn Composer, Musician: "The Stars In His Head (Dark Lights Remix)"
2016 Lavender Ed Gass-Donnelly Composed with Sarah Neufeld
Outlaws and Angels J. T. Mollner
The War Show Andreas Møl Dalsgaard & Obaidah Zytoon
2017 Destierros Hubert Caron-Guay Partial score
2018 Age Out A.J. Edwards
Hereditary Ari Aster
We Rene Eller
2019 Color Out of Space Richard Stanley
2021 Mayday Karen Cinorre
2022 Texas Chainsaw Massacre David Blue Garcia
2022 The Menu Mark Mylod

Documentary film

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Year Title Director Notes
2012 Shut Up and Play the Hits Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern cast as himself
2014 A City Is an Island Timothy George Kelly cast as himself
2015 An American, Portrait of Raymond Luc Levasseur Pierre Marier
New York Never Sleeps Alfonso Nogueroles
Scrum Poppy Stockell
2016 The Devil's Horn Larry Weinstein cast as himself
Uncle Howard Aaron Brookner Composer, Musician: "In Mirrors"
2024 Martha R. J. Cutler

Television

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Year Title Network Notes
2014 The Blacklist

The Alchemist (No. 101)

NBC performer: " Warm Shadow" - uncredited
2017 Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams

Human Is

Channel 4 performer: "The rest of us" - uncredited
2018 The First Hulu, Channel 4
2020 Barkskins National Geographic
2021 Among the Stars Disney Plus Composer for all 6 Episodes
2023 Hogan's Castle Netflix Composer for all 11 Episodes
2024 Uzumaki[23] Adult Swim's Toonami

Video game

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Year Title Studio
2018 Red Dead Redemption 2[24] Rockstar Games

References

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  1. ^ "BIO". Colin Stetson. Retrieved April 27, 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Colin Stetson biography". matrix-music.com. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  3. ^ a b Andrews, Jeff (May 5, 2017). "Colin Stetson Makes You Forget Everything You Knew About the Saxophone". www.vice.com. Retrieved April 27, 2023.
  4. ^ a b Everett-Green, Robert (September 16, 2011). "Is Colin Stetson's music Canadian enough for the Polaris?". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  5. ^ "Colin Stetson Reimagined a 1976 Polish Symphony as an Electronic Black Metal Opus with Saxophones". www.vice.com. April 18, 2016. Retrieved April 27, 2023.
  6. ^ Huey, Steve. "Transmission Biography". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved August 8, 2013.
  7. ^ Michaels, Sean (March 24, 2011). "Bon Iver announces details of second album". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved April 27, 2023.
  8. ^ Dennis, Zel (February 6, 2012). "Colin Stetson - The History of Warfare Volume 2 - Judges". modernbarisax.com. Retrieved September 22, 2014.
  9. ^ Lane, Anthony (June 8, 2018). ""Hereditary" Delivers a New Kind of Horror". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
  10. ^ "2011 Polaris Music Prize Long List announced". AUX.TV. Archived from the original on October 2, 2015. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
  11. ^ Robb, John (August 30, 2011). "All Tomorrows Parties December line up announced". Louder Than War. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  12. ^ "Polaris Music Prize Unveils 2013 Long List" Archived June 18, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. Exclaim!, June 13, 2012.
  13. ^ Mondalski, Mateusz (August 27, 2016). "Colin Stetson". Subbacultcha. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
  14. ^ Mejia, Paula (April 20, 2017). "Review: Colin Stetson, 'All This I Do for Glory'". NPR. Retrieved May 6, 2017.
  15. ^ Blackwell, Matthew. "Colin Stetson: Chimæra I". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  16. ^ Quietus, The (May 11, 2023). "Colin Stetson — When We Were That What Wept For The Sea". The Quietus. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  17. ^ Cook, Paul (September 14, 2024). "Colin Stetson – The love it took to leave you - Joyzine". joyzine.org. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  18. ^ "Hereditary review: The singularly most terrifying horror film in years". The Independent. June 19, 2018. Retrieved April 27, 2023.
  19. ^ Fordham, John (January 17, 2013). "Colin Stetson/Mats Gustafsson: Stones – review". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved April 27, 2023.
  20. ^ Monroe, Jazz (April 7, 2023). "Tim Hecker: No Highs review – ambient music that reflects our polluted world". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved April 27, 2023.
  21. ^ "CST080 ESMERINE: La Lechuza | Constellation Records". cstrecords.com. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
  22. ^ Empire, Kitty (February 14, 2016). "Animal Collective: Painting With review – dada pop to pogo to". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved April 27, 2023.
  23. ^ Mateo, Alex (July 26, 2024). "Uzumaki Anime's Trailer Reveals September 28 Premiere on Toonami". Anime News Network. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
  24. ^ "All the artists set to appear on the Red Dead Redemption 2 soundtrack". The Independent. October 25, 2018. Retrieved April 27, 2023.
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