HOLEG SPIES‘ work can be described as cinematic, weaving evocative visual soundscapes and narrative orchestrations; electrorganic, blending electronic, acoustic, field recordings and ethnic influences, and ecophonic, considering music as a living organism. More about Ecophonism here

“Holeg Spies has composed twelve albums and numerous film scores. He is one of France’s greatest exponents of electronica and contemporary music. Freeing himself from the boundaries of time, he reflects on the continuity of the place of sound in human societies. His music also pushes for a form of demandingness: through its ruptures, irruptions and unpredictability, Holeg Spies’ music provokes the unexpected, forcing active listening and always reminding the listener of his/her senses.”
SacreBleu Production  – Cannes Golden Palm, César, Golden Globe and Oscar winning-company

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A graduate in European and International Law from the Panthéon-Sorbonne, Holeg was also one of the pioneers of the French techno scene in the 1990s, performing all over the world. His performances have shaped a sonic culture where music becomes space, energy, and collective language, resonating through bodies and places.

Balancing intellectual intuition, empiricism, and artistic immersion, Holeg has been exploring for over thirty years how sound transforms our perception of the world. His research has taken him from the techno vibrations of major cities to the legendary Abbey Road Studios, from the boundless steppes of Mongolia to the silences of a hermitage in the Basque Country, and to the ceremonies and chants of the Hopi Native American tribe.

At the crossroads of composition, cinema, research, and lived experience, Holeg Spies reveals sound as the invisible thread that connects human beings to their environment – a trace and a vibration of what binds us together, tangible yet elusive, intimate and universal all at once.

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As a film composer…

Where film music often illustrates, Holeg Spies connects: for him, a film is not a sequence of scenes to illustrate, but an ecosystem of visual, emotional, and sonic forces.

Holeg Spies breaks away from the traditional harmonic frameworks of narrative cinema: far from conventional orchestrations, Spies favours favours open modes, micro-intervals, suspended or partially unstable chords that maintain a gentle tension between consonance and dissonance. These harmonic choices produce a sensation of emotional suspension: the music does not dictate what to feel; it allows the viewer to wander through emotion. Example of his writing process here

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In the early 90s, while studying in Paris La Sorbonne, Holeg DJ’d and hosted underground Raves in Europe and India, joining the French pioneer DJ booking agency Out Soon alongside such artists as Jeff Mills and Laurent Garnier.

Throughout the 2000s Holeg moved into avant-garde audio-visual creations and exhibited at the Pompidou Centre and the Nation French Library in Paris, contemporary art venues in Tokyo, New York, and Geneva.

From 1997 to 2007, Holeg extensively toured and performed in Japan thanks to Mike Maguire from Juno Reactor (contributors to the Matrix franchise soundtracks), and it was there that he crossed paths with the notorious filmmaker Takashi Miike. After making an audio-visual remix of his film Ichi the Killer (2001) Holeg’s film journey began.

Since then, as a solo artist and also with Australian-British violin virtuoso and composer Patrick Savage, Holeg has composed feature film scores that include fantasy animation Abruptio (2023) starring Jordan Peele ; thriller Black Site (2022) starring Michelle Monaghan, Jason Clarke ; moving documentary The Road to Freedom Peak (2013) narrated by Djimon Hounsou ; cult horror The Human Centipede: First Sequence (2009) ; the trailer for Michael Bay’s The Hitcher (2007). more

Holeg’s numerous collaborations include iconic artists like The Future Sound of London, Coldcut, Anne Clark, Youth from Killing Joke, East Bay Ray from Dead Kennedys, Jon Klein from Siouxsie & The Banshees, Andy Falconer from The Orb, Mona Soyoc from KaS Product among many others…

Holeg’s shape-shifting discography includes releases on major labels as Universal, Sony and Lakeshore as well as many indie labels like Citizen of French electro-pop star Vitalic, Perfecto of Grammy nominee Paul Oakenfold, and Liquid Sound Design of Youth – producer of The Verve, Pink Floyd and Paul McCartney... more

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“Holeg Spies’ Brave New World album is a masterpiece. Genre bending psychedelia. An electronic Dark Side of the Moon meets soundtrack and chill.”
Martin ‘Youth’ Glover – Grammy winner producer

“Holeg Spies’ Axis Mundi album is the soundtrack to the ultimate film I dream of directing. A journey between the end of a world and the beginning of a new era reconciled with the original vibration.”
Pierre Morel – Director of Taken