Louis Warynski (born 6 January 1984), better known by his stage name Chapelier Fou (

Mad Hatter The Hatter is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll's 1865 book ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' and its 1871 sequel ''Through the Looking-Glass''. He is very often referred to as the Mad Hatter, though this term was never used by Car ...

) is a French electronic musician from

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

. Since 2008, he has released five EPs and nine studio albums, all through the independent record label Ici, d'ailleurs...

Life and career

Louis Warynski was born on 6 January 1984, in the French city of

. He entered the local conservatory at the age of six and went on to learn multiple instruments, including the violin and

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

. After graduating from high school, Warynski obtained a master's degree in

musicology Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

. He began working with electronic music, sampled lines by

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...

, and adopted the moniker as his stage name. In 2008, Chapelier Fou performed at

Printemps de Bourges Le Printemps de Bourges is an annual music festival that is held in Bourges, France, over the course of five days. It is now a major event in France and Europe. History The festival was created in 1977 (by , , and ). With its span of 35 years, ...

, in the "Electro Discoveries" section. In 2009, the Nancy-based independent label Ici, d'ailleurs... released his first EP, ''Darling, Darling, Darling...'' That year, his performance at

Eurockéennes de Belfort The Eurockéennes de Belfort (; en, Eurockeans of Belfort) are one of France's largest rock music, rock music festivals. The Eurockéennes, a play on words involving ''rock'' (rock music) and ''européennes'' (Europeans), is a festival based in ...

won him the Fabrice Ragris prize, awarded for young talent. His next EP, titled ''Scandale!'', was released in November 2009. In 2010, the artist appeared at

Les Francofolies de La Rochelle Les Francofolies () are an annual music festival founded in 1985 in La Rochelle, Poitou-Charentes, France as an initiative of Jean-Louis Foulquier. It is usually held annually in July and aims at promoting French-language music. Number of thos ...

and later travelled to Hungary to perform at Sziget Festival, in Budapest. His debut full-length album, titled ''613'', came out in 2010. In 2011, Chapelier Fou held a series of performances at the

Centre Pompidou-Metz The Centre Pompidou-Metz is a museum of Modern art, modern and contemporary art located in Metz, capital of Lorraine (region), Lorraine, France. It is a branch of Centre Georges Pompidou, Pompidou arts centre of Paris, and features semi-permanent ...

and later released the EP ''Al Abama''. In 2012, he took part in the Celtic Connections music festival in Glasgow, Scotland. The same year, he travelled to Australia and New Zealand to play at WOMAD. His second studio album, ''Invisible'', was released in March 2012. He promoted it with a number of shows across Europe, including at a Nuit Blanche in Paris. He returned to Australia for more performances the same year. Chapelier Fou has since published the EPs ''Protest'' (2014) and ''Fuses'' (2015) as well as the full-length albums ''Deltas'' (2014), ''Kalia'' (2016), ''Muance'' (2017), ''!'' (2017), ''Méridiens'' (2020), and ''Parallèles'' (2020). Between 2014 and 2019, he performed with a group of musicians, including Maxime François (viola, synthesizers), Maxime Tisserand (clarinets, electronics), and Camille Momper (cello), before returning to a solo format in 2020. In 2021, he formed the acoustic group Ensemb7e, which included Grégory Wagenheim (piano), Nicolas Stroebel (drums), Maxime Tisserand (clarinets), Camille Momper (cello), Maxime François (viola), and Marie Lambert (violin ). In 2021, Claire Moret replaced Momper. In 2022, the group released an eponymous studio album.

Musical style

Chapelier Fou's compositions are mostly instrumental, combining acoustic instruments, including guitar and violin, with electronic instruments, synthesizers, and samplers. He began by sampling classical and world music, moving on to the use of acoustic instruments.

Discography

Studio albums * ''613'' (2010) * ''Invisible'' (2012) * ''Deltas'' (2014) * ''Kalia'' (2016) * ''Muance'' (2017) * ''!'' (2017) * ''Méridiens'' (2020) * ''Parallèles'' (2020) * ''Ensemb7e'' (2022) EPs * ''Darling, Darling, Darling… (2009) * ''Scandale!'' (2009) * ''Al Abama'' (2011) * ''Protest'' (2014) * ''Fuses'' (2015)

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 1984 births Living people French electronic musicians French multi-instrumentalists