Ben Lukas Boysen

Ben Lukas Boysen is a German composer, producer, and sound designer whose music ranges from sparse, sorrowful ambient and soundtrack work to intricately detailed techno and IDM. He first became known for his glitchy, sometimes volatile work under the name Hecq, which flirted with breakcore and later embraced dubstep. Boysen began concentrating on material under his own name during the 2010s, beginning with the first of several soundtracks, 2012′s Restive. He moved toward ambient, modern classical, and post-rock with albums such as 2013′s Gravity and 2016′s Spells, then returned to beat-heavy work with 2024′s Alta Ripa, his most techno-influenced release. Born in 1981 to opera singer Deirdre Boysen and actor Claus Boysen, Ben Lukas Boysen studied classical guitar and piano as a child. During the early 2000s, he settled in Berlin and founded his own studio, Hecq Audio; he began making electronic music under the name Hecq. He released his debut album, A Dried Youth, on Kaleidoskop in 2003, drawing heavily from the glitchy, atmospheric electronic music of artists like Autechre and Cristian Vogel. The next three Hecq albums were co-released by IDM/industrial label Hymen Records, which then became the project’s primary home. These releases, including 2004′s Scatterheart and 2007′s double-CD 0000, incorporated breakcore and drone influences. Hecq remixed artists like Snog, End, and Haujobb, and the first release under Boysen’s own name, a dark ambient mini-album titled Infinite Rounds, appeared in 2007. Hecq’s palette expanded to include experimental hip-hop and dubstep on 2009′s Steeltongued and 2011′s Avenger. While the project remained active, Boysen released his first soundtrack, Restive, in 2012, followed by Mother Nature in 2013. Gravity, an album spanning ambient, modern classical, and post-rock influences, appeared on Ad Noiseam in 2013. Boysen signed to Erased Tapes, first issuing the brief score Sundays in 2015. The label reissued Gravity in 2016, in addition to releasing Spells, an album in a similar vein. The video game soundtrack Everything, co-composed with Sebastian Plano, appeared in 2017. Boysen’s techno-influenced Golden Times 1 EP included remixes by Tim Hecker and Max Cooper. The downtempo EP Grains & Motes, with Neil Cowley, appeared in 2019, and Boysen collaborated with Martyn Heyne on another EP that year, Thesis 16. Additionally, Boysen’s soundtrack The Collini Case was issued by Milan Records. Solo album Mirage appeared in 2020, and Siren Songs (Original Score for an Abandoned Video Game) was issued in 2021. Boysen’s 2022 EP Clarion included remixes by Mogwai, Foodman, and Erased Tapes labelmates Kiasmos. The Lazarus Project (Original Score), with Paul Emmerich, featured appearances by Nailah Hunter, Qasim Naqvi, Midori Hirano, and Anne Müller. Along with Müller, Jon Hopkins, and Lisa Morgenstern, Boysen contributed music for the 2024 film Falling Into Place. Boysen revisited his early techno influences on his album Alta Ripa. ~ Paul Simpson