B I O G R A P H Y

 

After studying to become a sound engineer, Pierre Lefeuvre ( S A Y C E T ) pivoted to sound design and electronic music production. A trained guitarist and self-taught keyboard player, Pierre was able to give form to the techno and house music influences that have been with him since his teenage years. Although inspired as much by techno as by the post-rock of Explosions in the Sky, and by the Warp label as well as Slowdive, Massive Attack and Brian Eno, Saycet's music is unlike any other.  

Spotted at his day job in a Parisian video store by his future manager in 2004 as he was playing his own music over the store PA, he went on to be a finalist of the CQFD competition (the precursor to the Inrocks Lab) in 2005, with one of his track ending up on the event's compilation. The following year, he released his debut album, One Day at Home, on his own label, Météores-Music. One Day at Home garnered warm critical reception, with Inrockuptibles leading the charge. 

That year, the young producer also made his stage debut under the Saycet name, on the occasion of the opening of the Apple Expo at the Queen nightclub.  

In 2010, he released his second album, Through the Window, marking an important turning point in his international career, especially in Japan. On this full length, he called upon French-Laotian songwriter and vocalist Phoene Somsavath, while continuing to man the production. The critical reception is once again glowing, again from the Inrockuptibles, who had been supporting from the beginning, but also from Novorama and Radio Nova, leading to an invitation by Mélanie Bauer to be interviewed and play a live set on her show "L’Éléphant Effervescent.”  

His third album, Mirage, released in 2015 following a first EP, Volcano is more accessible to a wider audience and covered in the mainstream press. Saycet remains supported by the specialized press: Mirage is named Album of the Month by Trax Magazine, and Saycet is invited to present the full length live on Laurent Goumarre's "Le Nouveau Rendez-Vous" radio show on France Culture. Joining him on this latest full-lenght are, once again, Phoene Somsavath, as well as French vocalist Yan Wagner and musician Juliette Armant.  

Saycet's career was marked by several fruitful collaborations. In 2008, French producer Anoraak called upon Saycet to remix his track "Nightdrive With You.” A year later, Pony Pony Run Run ordered a remix of his biggest hit "Hey You.” The collaboration between the two musicians does not stop there, with Saycet opening for PPRR at the Boule Noire in June 2009.  

Other artists follow suit: Jay-Jay Johansson in 2015 ("Moonshine"); singer Emily Loizeau in 2016 for "Dark Waters", a single from her album Mona; François 1er ("Out of Africa"); and Nouvelle Vague in 2017, for their track "I Could Be Happy" featuring singer Clara Luciani. 

 

Saycet has toured extensively in France and abroad (China, Russia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, United Kingdom). He is represented by a label in each of these countries (Republic of Music in the UK, Inpartmaint in Japan, Pocket Tecords in China and Skymusic in South Korea). On stage, Saycet is accompanied by singer Louise Roam as well as by videographer Zita Cochet, who has been with the project since its genesis.  

The project's visuals have evolved over the years, encompassing three-dimensional installations and projections that illustrate the current album cycle. In the future, Zita's work is projected to be even more immersive, as Saycet has decided to focus on his atmospheric electronic music, even if he does not exclude the possibility of live features. 

 

Saycet is known to mainstream audiences thanks to the use of his track "Sunday Morning" (from Through the Window) in a call for donations advert for the French Red Cross, broadcast between 2009 and 2013. Telecom giant Orange will later use "Her Movie" (also from Through the Window) and "Radiant City" (from Mirage) in its adverts. At the beginning of 2017, Netflix also used his track "Cité Radieuse" for the trailer of the series Abstract: The Art of Design.  

Saycet has composed and produced the soundtracks for a number of advertising campaigns: Audi TT, directed by Fleur & Manu (2014); the Société Générale bank's Rugby World Cup ad (2015); French electric utility company EDF's European Football Cup ad (2016); charity Burn & Smiles (2016); L’Oréal's 2015-2017 campaigns; and ads for the Peugeot 5008, directed by Jérôme Salle.  

 

Saycet's first foray into the world of cinema dates back to 2003, when he was interning from Vincent Arnardi, sound mixer for Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Claire Denis, and Luc Besson. Through this collaboration, he met actor-director Chantal Lauby and producer Claudie Ossard, who were looking for electronic music for the film Laisse tes mains sur mes hanches.  

Over ten years later, Pierre returned to the cinema when Japanese director Hyoe Yamamoto contacted him to produce the original score for the documentary "Pour Le Bien De l'Entreprise : L'Affaire Olympus" (a Point du Jour-production for Arte-BBC-ZDF), about the financial scandal that rattle the Japanese corporation of the same name.  

Between 2009 and 2013, he produced the soundtrack for four France Culture radio plays.   

In 2017, Saycet produced the original soundtrack for Season 1 of the Tycoon series, directed by Louis Leterrier and produced by VOD company Blackpills and Together Media.  

From 2009 to 2014, Saycet is hired as the composer for the Centre Pompidou in Paris, under the direction of Alain Seban. The museum gives him carte blanche for the creation of compositions accompanying the trailers for the exhibitions, while led him to score over twenty exhibitions, such as Les Surréalistes and Josef Albers. make twenty for exhibitions such as surrealist and Josef Albers.  

In 2017, Saycet composed and produced the original music of the adaptation of the novel Neige by Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk at the Théâtre National de Strasbourg, directed by Blandine Savetier.