Jonathan Morali (born 22 May 1980) is a French composer, songwriter, singer, founder and frontman of the band

Syd Matters Syd Matters is a French band fronted by composer Jonathan Morali. The other band members are Jean-Yves Lozac'h, Olivier Marguerit, Remi Alexandre and Clement Carle. The name Syd Matters comes from the slight modification of the names of two Pi ...

. He is also the composer of many films and videogames original scores (e.g., '' Life Is Strange'', '' Life Is Strange 2'').

Biography

Debut and Syd Matters

Jonathan Morali was born in Paris on 22 May 1980. He began his performing career playing at small bars until he was noticed by Third Side Records and signed to a recording contract. His first album, A Whisper and a Sigh, which was recorded during the summer of 2002 and released 28 June 2004. Developing an atmospheric folk-pop style that featured acoustic settings combined with electronica-influenced touches that sounded a bit like a hybrid between Nick Drake and Radiohead. Since Syd Matters’ debut, their experimental genre has been continuously reviewed by critics. Their second album, "Someday We Will Foresee Obstacles", brought the band mainstream attention with a review in the 32nd issue of ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

''.Syd Matters: Someday We Will Foresee Obstacles. (2005). Music Week. The unique sound they produce has been said to draw inspiration from genres such as

prog rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Initi ...

, dub music, and

Traditional pop Traditional pop (also known as classic pop and pre-rock and roll pop) is Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standard ...

, while also resembling that of singer-songwriter artists but at its core is often considered a mix between

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fo ...

and

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

genres. In their reviews, they have also been compared to other artists such as

Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes is an American indie folk band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 2006. The band consists of Robin Pecknold (vocals, guitar), Skyler Skjelset (guitar, mandolin, backing vocals), Casey Wescott (keyboards, mandolin, backing vocals), ...

Fionn Regan Fionn Regan (born 1981) is an Irish folk musician and singer-songwriter. Born and raised in Bray, Regan came to prominence with the release of his debut studio album, '' The End of History'' in 2006. He had been releasing extended plays for six ...

Grandaddy Grandaddy is an American indie rock band from Modesto, California. The group was formed in 1992, and featured Jason Lytle, Aaron Burtch, Jim Fairchild, Kevin Garcia and Tim Dryden, until Garcia's death in 2017 following a stroke. After several ...

The Flaming Lips The Flaming Lips are an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The band currently consists of Wayne Coyne (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Steven Drozd (guitars, keyboards, bass, drums, vocals), Derek Brown (k ...

, and Nick Drake.

Songs featured in media

His songs "To All of You" ("American Girls") and "Hello Sunshine", a

Super Furry Animals Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band formed in Cardiff in 1993. For the duration of their professional career, the band consisted of Gruff Rhys (lead vocals, guitar), Huw Bunford (lead guitar, vocals), Guto Pryce (bass guitar), Cian Ciar ...

cover, were featured in the television series ''

The O.C. ''The O.C. '' is an American teen drama television series created by Josh Schwartz that originally aired on the Fox network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 22, 2007, running a total of four seasons. "O.C." is an initiali ...

'' in season 3's

The Party Favor The third season of ''The O.C.'' commenced airing in the United States on September 8, 2005, concluded on May 18, 2006, and consisted of 25 episodes. The first ten episodes of season three aired Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. ET in the US on FOX, a ...

and season 4's The Metamorphosis, respectively. Additionally, "Obstacles" and "To All of You" were featured in

Dontnod Entertainment Don't Nod Entertainment SA (trade name: Don't Nod, formerly Dontnod Entertainment) is a French video game developer based in Paris. Founded in June 2008, it started development on '' Remember Me'' (2013). Because of its poor return on investmen ...

's 2015 video game '' Life Is Strange''. Featured Syd Matters songs : * ''

Newport Beach Newport Beach is a coastal city in South Orange County, California. Newport Beach is known for swimming and sandy beaches. Newport Harbor once supported maritime industries however today, it is used mostly for recreation. Balboa Island draws ...

'' (''The O.C.'') (série télévisée), saison 3, épisode ''Le Barbecue coréen'' (''The Party Favor'') de

Michael Lange Michael Lange (born March 1, 1950) is an American television director and record producer. Biography Early life Born and raised just outside New York City,

(2006) * '' Ma première fois'' by Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar (2012) * '' Upside Down'' by

Juan Solanas Juan Solanas (born 4 November 1966) is an Argentine film director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer. His film ''Nordeste'' was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. He directed the French-Can ...

– songs ''River Sister'' and ''Obstacles'' (2012) * ''

Clara Sheller Clara Sheller is a French television series created by Nicolas Mercier after the idea of Stéphanie Tchou-Cotta that was aired from 18 May 2005 to 3 December 2008 on France 2. The casting was completely changed between the first and second season, b ...

'' (TV series) * Video game '' Life Is Strange'' – songs ''Obstacles'' and ''To All of You''

Film score

In addition to his career with

, Morali is a film composer. His most notable works are the soundtracks for Möbius, Les Adoptés (The Adopted), and La Question humaine, the latter of which was composed under the name Syd Matters. Morali also collaborated with director Rémi Chayé to create the score for the animated film ''

Long Way North ''Long Way North'' (french: Tout en haut du monde, lit=At the very top of the world) is a 2015 French-Danish animated film directed by Rémi Chayé. The film premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, where it won the Audience ...

'' (2015), where he included two tracks by Syd Matters in the soundtrack.

Video games and ''Life Is Strange''

Morali is also well-known for the creation of '' Life Is Strange'' and '' Life Is Strange 2'' original scores. A gamer himself, he had been contacted by directors Raoul Barbet and Michel Koch to work on the first season of '' Life Is Strange'' at the very beginning of the development of the game. Director Raoul Barbet wanted to have some songs from his band in the game, and Morali agreed to compose the whole soundtrack in addition to allowing the use of "To All of You" and "Obstacles". The soundtrack of '' Life Is Strange'' has won numerous awards including: Best Soundtrack at the 2015 PlayStation Universe awards, best soundtrack at the Game Informer Best of 2015 awards and best soundtrack at the Titanium Awards. Morali also composed the '' Life Is Strange 2'' original score.

Other projects

Jonathan has also composed music for plays, radio plays, opera and museums. 2016: Original creation around ''Dante's Inferno'' for France Culture radio, with Syd matters members. It will be played at Avignon festival. 2019–2020 : Soundtrack creation of ''Pas de deux'' play by Julien Favart. 2019–2020 : Original creation for Abu Dhabi's ''Louvre museum''. 2020: Original creation around Franz Kafka's "La 'Métamorphose'', still with Syd matters, for France Culture radio.

Video games

* '' Life Is Strange '' (2015) * '' Life Is Strange 2'' (2018)

Film

As Jonathan Morali

* '' Avant qu'il ne soit trop tard'' by Laurent Dussaux (2004) * '' Les Adoptés'' by

Mélanie Laurent Mélanie Laurent (; born 21 February 1983) is a French actress, filmmaker, and singer. The recipient of two César Awards and a Lumières Award, she is an accomplished actress in the French film industry. Globally, she is best known for her rol ...

(2010) * '' Mauvaise Fille'' by Patrick Mille (2012) * '' Möbius'' by

Éric Rochant Éric Rochant (born 24 February 1961) is a French film director and screenwriter. He is an alumnus of the IDHEC ( FEMIS) from the generation of Arnaud Desplechin and Noémie Lvovsky. Rochant is of Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִי� ...

(2013) * '' Tout en haut du monde'' by Rémi Chayé (2015) * '' L'Échappée belle'' by Émilie Cherpitel (2015) * '' Le Nouveau'' by Rudi Rosenberg (2015) * ''Druga strana svega'' (documentary film) by Mila Turajlić (2017) * ''Au fil du monde'' by Jill Coulon and Isabelle Dupuy-Chavanat (Arte TV documentary series) (2017)

As Syd Matters

* ''Goodbye Mélodie'' (short) by David Barrouk (2005) * '' ''La Question Humaine'''' by Nicolas Klotz (2007) * '' Les Grandes Grandes Vacances'' Animated series (2015)

Albums (Syd Matters)

Studio albums

* '' A Whisper and A Sigh'' (2003) * '' Someday We Will Foresee Obstacles'' (2006) * '' Ghost Days'' (2008) * '' Brotherocean'' (2011)

Singles/EPs

* '' End & Start Again'' (2002) * '' Fever In Winter, Shiver In June'' (2002) * '' Everything Else'' (2007) * '' Hi Life'' (2010)

Compilations

*''

'' (2006)

Awards

, - , style="text-align:center", 2002 , ''

– A Whisper and a Sigh'' , CQFD Inrocks Mag , , - , style="text-align:center", 2008 , '' La Question humaine'' ,

Victoires de la musique Victoires de la Musique (; en, Victories of Music) is an annual French award ceremony where the Victoire accolade is delivered by the French Ministry of Culture to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The classical and jazz ...

, " Album de musique originale de cinéma ou de télévision" , , - , style="text-align:center", 2015 , '' Life Is Strange (video game)'' , Fun and Serious Game Festival – ES Titanium Awards – Best Soundtrack , , - , style="text-align:center", 2015 , ''Life Is Strange''
US DarkCast: Games of the Year 2015
– Best Music , , - , style="text-align:center", 2015 , ''Life Is Strange''
Quebec PlayStation Universe 2015 Awards
– Best Musical Soundtrack , , - , style="text-align:center", 2015 , ''Life Is Strange'' , US Game Informer – Best Of 2015 Awards – Best Soundtrack , , - , style="text-align:center", 2015 , ''Life Is Strange'' ,

Golden Joystick Awards The Golden Joystick Awards, also known as the People's Gaming Awards, is a video game award ceremony; it awards the best video games of the year, as voted for originally by the British general public, but is now a global event that can be vote ...

– Best Audio , , - , style="text-align:center", 2015 , ''Life Is Strange'' ,

Paste Magazine ''Paste'' is a monthly music and entertainment digital magazine, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with studios in Atlanta and Manhattan, and owned by Paste Media Group. The magazine began as a website in 1998. It ran as a print publication fro ...

– Best Videogame Soundtracks , , - , style="text-align:center", 2015 , ''Life Is Strange'' , ''

Hardcore Gamer A gamer is a proactive hobbyist who plays interactive games, especially video games, tabletop role-playing games, and skill-based card games, and who plays for usually long periods of time. Some gamers are competitive, meaning they routinely ...

'' – Best of 2015 – Best Licensed Soundtrack , , - , style="text-align:center", 2015 , ''Life Is Strange'' , Game Revolution – Best of 2015 Awards – Best Soundtrack , , - , style="text-align:center", 2015 , ''Life Is Strange''
Playstation Blog – Game of the Year
– Best Soundtrack , , - , style="text-align:center", 2015 , ''Life Is Strange'' , National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers – Original Light Mix Score, New IP , , - , style="text-align:center", 2015 , ''Life Is Strange'' , National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers – To All Of You – Song, Original or Adapted , , - , style="text-align:center", 2015 , ''Life Is Strange'' , National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers – Song Collection , , - , style="text-align:center", 2015 , ''Life Is Strange'' , Ping Awards – Meilleure Bande-son , , - , style="text-align:center", 2016 , ''Life Is Strange'' ,

Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two to ...

– Emotional Game Awards – Best Emotional Music , , - , style="text-align:center", 2017 , '' Tout en haut du monde'' ,

European Animation Awards European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe a ...

– Best Soundtrack in a Feature Film Production , , - , style="text-align:center", 2018 , '' Life Is Strange 2'' , Ping Awards – Meilleure Bande-son , , - , style="text-align:center", 2019 , ''Life Is Strange 2'' , Académie des Arts et Techniques du Jeu Vidéo – Pégases – Meilleure Univers Sonore ,

References

External links

Jonathan Morali website

Syd Matters website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morali, Jonathan 21st-century French musicians 21st-century French composers French film score composers Video game composers 1980 births Living people