Maël Péneau

Electro composer and producer Maël Péneau (aka Maelstrom) invents dialogues between digital technologies and musical creativity. Péneau, who has performed live in New York, Sydney, Cape Town, Mexico City, Tokyo, Hong Kong and across Europe, holds a PhD in anthropology from École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. His research focuses on the careers and creative processes of musicians who work with digital audio tools.

Introduced in the 1980s by Japanese firm Roland, the Mid-0 Series of electronic musical instruments is still used in popular music worldwide. Maël Péneau’s project will highlight the role of these instruments and their design, as well as study the conditions that led to their creation from a historical, social and cultural perspective. This research will culminate in a musical creation in collaboration with engineers who helped to develop these tools. Through in-depth interviews, Péneau aims to explore not just their social and professional pathways, but also the cultural and technical context of Japan in the 1970s and 1980s. Based on the “speech melody” concept, developed most famously by Steve Reich, recorded speech will serve to compose a piece using instruments or sounds inspired by the Mid-0 Series.

Portrait: © Elizaveta Porodina

-1 Album Rhizome © Elizaveta Porodina
-3 Rixes (2023) © Morganographe
-4 Rixes 2 (2023) © Morganographe