Michel Cloup

Born in Toulouse, Michel Cloup since the early 1990s has developed a career situated between indie rock, spoken word and hybrid forms mixing guitar, electric tension and spoken-sung text. He first appears with Diabologum, active from 1993 to 1998, a landmark French alternative scene band with the albums C'était un lundi après-midi semblable aux autres (1993), Le Goût du jour (1994) and #3 (1996), where post-rock, collage, noise and fragmentary writing intersect. After this period, Cloup founded Expérience, active in the 2000s, notably Aujourd'hui maintenant (2001), Hémisphère gauche (2004) and Nous (en) sommes encore là (2008), in a more frontal vein, still anchored in a nerve-racking and political rock. His work then continues under his name, often as a duo and then a trio, with Notre silence (2011), Minuit dans tes bras (2014), Ici et là-bas (2016) and Danser danser danser sur les ruines (2019), records where Cloup sharpens a direct writing, at times documentary, carried by dry rhythms and a constant tension between melody and declamation. In parallel, Cloup participates in other projects like Binary Audio Misfits and collaborates with cinema, theatre and contemporary art, extending a practice where sound, speech and image advance together.