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Gautier Serre (born June 5, 1984), better known by his stage name Igorrr, is a French musician. Under the Igorrr alias, he combines a variety of disparate genres, including black metal, baroque music, breakcore, and trip hop, into a singular sound. Serre is also part of the groups Whourkr and Corpo-Mente. The Igorrr project became a full band with the addition of vocalists Aphrodite Patoulidou and JB Le Bail, drummer Sylvain Bouvier, guitarist Martyn Clément and bassist Erlend Caspersen.
Igorrr | |
|---|---|
 Serre in November 2010 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Gautier Serre |
| Born | June 5, 1984 France |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 2005–present |
| Labels | Ad Noiseam, Metal Blade, Blood Music |
| Members |
|
| Past members |
|
| Website | www |
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Solo work (2005–2016)
Serre plays piano, drums, and guitar and primarily uses Steinberg Cubase for recording.[1] He named his band after a pet gerbil called Igorr that he had as a child, adding the extra "r" to "make it harder to pronounce."[2] Serre claims to have synesthesia, in his case perceiving music as colors.[2]
Igorrr self-released a demo album, Poisson Soluble (2006) and Moisissure (2008, Acroplane Recordings),[3] which gained the attention of label Ad Noiseam.[4] His debut album Nostril was released in 2010, alongside a companion EP Baroquecore.[4] Both demos were reissued in 2011.[4] Igorrr's second album Hallelujah was released in 2012.[4] It featured collaboration from Mayhem guitarist Teloch and classical singer Laure Le Prunenec.[4][5] Igorrr's pet chicken, Patrick, gained notoriety for "playing" the piano (Serre would put chicken feed on corresponding keys the chicken would peck at.)[6][7][8][9] Serre won a GoPro award for film making for a video of Patrick playing filmed with a GoPro.[10][11]
Expansion to full band (2017–present)
In February 2017, Igorrr signed with Metal Blade Records.[12][13] His third album Savage Sinusoid, was released on June 16, 2017. The album was recorded over five years by a collective of musicians.[14][15][16][17] The album was preceded by the single "ieuD".[18][19] Unlike previous Igorrr albums, it did not feature any samples. It featured collaboration with members of Cattle Decapitation and Secret Chiefs 3.[20][4][21] The album received positive critical reception, Metal Injection awarded it "The Bat Shit Crazy Album Of The Year Award",[22] and a perfect 10/10 score,[23] while AllMusic gave the album 4 out of 5 stars.[24] Metal Hammer gave the album 4 out of 5 stars as well.[25] The album charted in Belgium on the Ultratop Flanders chart, reaching #173.[26]
Igorrr toured North America for the first time in 2018.[27] In June 2018, Igorrr supported Ministry on their 2018 North American tour.[28] The live show features drummer Sylvain Bouvier and vocalists Laure Le Prunenec and Laurent Lunoir, alongside Serre on vocals and programming.[2][6]
Igorrr has also performed at several other festivals, including Heavy Montréal festival,[29] Dour Festival (three times, in 2014, 2015 and 2017),[30] Roadburn Festival,[31] Europavox,[32] Montreux Jazz Festival,[33] Metaldays,[34] Durbuy Rock Festival,[35] Motocultor Festival,[36] Download Festival,[37] Brutal Assault,[38] Hellfest Open Air,[39] FortaRock,[40] and Copenhell,[41] among others. Igorrr also had a short film shown at the Orlando Film Festival.[42] They also performed at a rock festival hosted by the opera company Opéra national du Rhin in 2017.[43]
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Igorrr's sound combines breakbeats, heavy metal riffs, extreme tempo changes, and operatic singing coupled with screaming/growling, among other elements, to create what AllMusic describes as "an intense, disturbing, and undeniably distinct experience".[4] The project's musical sources include black metal,[12] death metal,[44] industrial metal,[45] progressive metal,[46] classical music (especially Baroque music),[13] Balkan music,[47] breakcore,[48][49] and trip hop.[12][4][13][50] It has provoked labels such as "Baroquecore"[5] and has been described as Dadaist.[51]
In a 2017 interview, Serre said of the origin of Igorrr: "It started when I was a teenager looking for a band or an artist destroying all the limits of music, a band able to bring what all the boring mainstream bands could not bring."[52] Serre listed classical composers Frédéric Chopin, Johann Sebastian Bach, Jean-Philippe Rameau, and Domenico Scarlatti, alongside contemporary acts Taraf de Haïdouks, Cannibal Corpse, Meshuggah, Aphex Twin, Mr. Bungle (as well as other Mike Patton projects),[2] and Portishead as influences in the early days.[53][54][5]
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With other musicians
Serre was part of Whourkr from 2005 up until 2013 when the group split up into their individual projects.[55][56] Igorrr released the Maigre EP, a collaboration with French artist Ruby My Dear.[4] Starting in 2015, Serre is part of Corpo-Mente, where he works with vocalist Laure Le Prunenec. Their first self-titled album was on the label Blood Music and recorded at Improve Tone Studio in Lezoux, France.[57] He also collaborated with fellow breakcore artist Bong-Ra[58] Serre worked with The Algorithm on Brute Force.[59]
Serre has remixed songs for Morbid Angel (released on Illud Divinum Insanus – The Remixes[59]) and Meshuggah.[5]
Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc
Igorrr composed half of the soundtrack to the musical film Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc directed by Bruno Dumont.[60][61][62] The film was screened at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.[48] The soundtrack was nominated for Best Music at the 23rd Lumières Awards.[63] According to Serre, his initial compositions had a "medieval atmosphere", before the director told him to "just do Igorrr".[64] The score is described as "electro-pop with a dose of heavy metal" and techno-pop.[65][66]
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Current members
- Gautier Serre – guitar, programming, instrumentations & vocals (2005–present)
- Erlend Caspersen – bass (2017–present)
- Martyn Clément – guitar (2019–present)
- JB Le Bail – unclean vocals (2021–present)
- Marthe Alexandre – mezzo-soprano vocals (2022–present)
- Rémi Serafino – drums (2024–present; touring 2023–2024)
Former members
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Studio albums
- Nostril (2010)
- Hallelujah (2012)
- Savage Sinusoid (2017)
- Spirituality and Distortion (2020)
Demos
- Poisson Soluble (2006)
- Moisissure (2008)
EPs
- Baroquecore (2010)
- Maigre with Ruby My Dear (2014)
with Whourkr
- Demo (2005)
- Naät (2007)
- Concrete (2008, reissued 2010)
- 4247 Snare Drums (2012)
- Naät + Concrete (2013, vinyl reissue)
with Corpo-Mente
- Corpo-Mente (2014)
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