Benoît Pioulard will headline a show at the Mill with Haunter and Chris Wiersema next Friday, March 18.
By Claire Dietz
Listening to Nirvana’s 1993 In Utero as a young teen, Thomas Meluch was inspired by the sting of the guitar and the fullness of the drums.
“I liked the production noises [of In Utero],” Meluch said. “I was upset more records didn’t sound like that. But I started working with sound, with cheap microphones and tape decks when I was younger and didn’t know what I was doing. I guess I still don’t know what I’m doing. It’s mostly sounds that I haven’t heard before.”
Now, Meluch has moved on from tape decks and microphones, working with a Japanese Fender Stratocaster, a “junk-store nylon-string guitar,” his voice, and various tape recorders.
Meluch, under the stage moniker Benoît Pioulard, will perform at 9 p.m. March 18 with opening groups Haunter and Chris Wiersema at the Mill, 120 E. Burlington St.
He has always been a fan of a dream-like state, even when coming up with the stage name.
“I dreamt it up,” he said. “I was rusty with French but had it in a dream around 2003, 2004 when I was getting confident enough to share the things I was making with people.”
Meluch creates an ambient-folk style with his work as well as his concerts, during which he likes to lay down.
“What most people said sets [my music] apart is releasing instrumental things with a vocal element,” he said. “If anything, it’s my particular voice, my singing voice. That was one thing I always thought I brought to the table.
“I ask myself when given an instrument or recording device, ‘How can I use this in a way that I haven’t used it before?’ ”
Another performer taking the stage on that evening is Kyle Arthur Miller, the man behind Haunter, in which Miller uses a guitar to create what he calls “ambient drone noise.”
Miller, who has been playing guitar for most of his life, did not embark on this solo project until one of his bands dissolved. From there, the project was led on by one aspect in particular: suspense.
“Mystery is a big aspect [for me],” Miller said. “From watching other people play, how are they doing that? How they are making sounds? Where they are coming from?”
Miller expects the show, much like the music that will be created, to be introspective.
Meluch would likely agree with that notion, as he looks for the deeper interpersonal connections in his shows.
“Every show is different,” he said. “If you’re going to play 10 shows, most of them are going to be really good, and if you’re lucky, one of them will be totally transcendent. In 10 percent of the shows, you can feel like a completely different person.”