Colin Stetson

Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1975 and based in Montreal, Colin Stetson has developed since the early 2000s a career that sits between avant‑garde jazz, experimental music, minimalism and intersections with indie rock. A saxophonist and composer, Stetson focuses primarily on the bass saxophone and a very physical approach in which continuous breath, voice, resonances and the instrument’s percussive dimension are central. Before establishing himself as a solo artist, he collaborated with Tom Waits, Arcade Fire, Feist, TV on the Radio, Bon Iver and Bell Orchestre, while performing on stages that mix indie rock, contemporary creation and improvisation. The New History Warfare series — notably New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges (2011) and New History Warfare Vol. 3: To See More Light (2013) — accompanied his rise in visibility. His work with Sarah Neufeld produced Never Were the Way She Was (2015); he then released Sorrow: A Reimagining of Górecki’s 3rd Symphony (2016), All This I Do for Glory (2017), Chimæra I (2022), When We Were That What Wept for the Sea (2023) and The Love It Took to Leave You (2024). In parallel, Colin Stetson regularly composes for film and television, notably for Hereditary, The Menu and Uzumaki.