Chris d’Eon is from the same Montreal experimental DIY loft milieu as Grimes. After spending his formative years steeped in classical piano training, d’Eon tore through hardcore noise punk, then studied Iranian, Arabic, and Turkish music in college and went to northern India after graduation, where he lived in a monastery and learned the dranyen, or Tibetan lute. He now trades in psychedelic out-pop with releases on Divorce Records, Hippos In Tanks, and Arbutus.

An obvious nod to the virtuoso Gestus of classic works for piano, Music for Keyboards, d’Eon’s ongoing free download series of synth- and piano-only compositions, explores the worlds of the synthesizer and the grand piano. The three volumes to date comprise pieces from as early as 2003, and which continue through 2012. Disturbingly soft and mellifluous on the surface, the works are drenched with the conflict of disparate elements: Music for Keyboards is the unexpected meeting of the blissful soundworlds of Tangerine Dream, the neat harmonics of American Minimalism, reinterpretations of hokey pop songs, and the emotionalism of symphonic forms and mainstream film scores, all wrapped into the unpretentiousness of home-programmed sound.

While the synthesizer miniatures of Vol. I cycle through a diversity of “movements” that seem to worm through the same luminescent mulch and saccharine clouds as Oneohtrix Point Never, the airy fingerwork of Vol. II, “WhatsMyAgeAgain” Variations, showcases 14 lighthearted variations for solo piano that rephrase a single pop song theme, Blink-182′s “What’s My Age Again?”. The song tells the simple story of an adult who still behaves like a prepubescent child. Vol. III, Symphonie no.1 „Patriote”, is an epic 2-part symphony for MIDI-orchestra commenting on the increased patriotism in the artist’s Québec homeland and worldwide. “It sounds like winning the Olympics, watching ’90s musicals, and completing a triumphant series of old-timey tasks all at once.” (The Fader)

d’Eon will also perform his swirling, twisted pop explorations as part of a separate lineup at Berghain on Thursday January 31.

Supported by the Embassy of Canada and the Délégation générale du Québec à Berlin