Gautier Serre (born 5 June 1984), better known by his stage name Igorrr, is a French musician. Under the Igorrr alias, he combines a variety of disparate genres, including black metal, baroque music, breakcore, and trip hop, into a singular sound. Serre is also part of the now disbanded side-projects Whourkr and Corpo-Mente. The Igorrr project became a full band with the addition of vocalists Laure Le Prunenec and Laurent Lunoir, drummer Sylvain Bouvier, guitarist Martyn Clément and bassist Erlend Caspersen. In 2021, both vocalists left the band and were replaced with JB Le Bail and Aphrodite Patoulidou, who were later replaced by Marthe Alexandre. In 2024, Rémi Serafino took the position of the drummer.
History
Solo work (2005–2016)
Serre plays piano, drums, and guitar and primarily uses
Steinberg Cubase for recording.
He named his band after a pet gerbil called Igorr that he had as a child, adding the extra "r" to "make it harder to pronounce."
Serre claims to have
synesthesia, in his case perceiving music as colors.
Igorrr self-released a demo album, Poisson Soluble (2006) and Moisissure (2008, Acroplane Recordings),
Igorrr's second album, Hallelujah, was released in 2012.
Expansion to full band (2017–present)
In February 2017, Igorrr signed with Metal Blade Records.
His third album,
Savage Sinusoid, was released on 16 June 2017. It was recorded over five years by a collective of musicians.
The album was preceded by the single "ieuD".
Unlike previous Igorrr albums, it did not feature any samples. It featured collaboration with members of Cattle Decapitation and Secret Chiefs 3.
The album received positive critical reception,
Metal Injection awarded it "The Bat Shit Crazy Album Of The Year Award",
and a perfect 10/10 score,
while
AllMusic gave the album 4 out of 5 stars.
gave the album 4 out of 5 stars as well.
The album charted in
Belgium on the
Ultratop Flanders chart, reaching #173.
Igorrr toured North America for the first time in 2018.
Igorrr has also performed at several other festivals, including Heavy Montréal festival,
Style and influences
Igorrr's sound combines
, heavy metal
, extreme tempo changes, and operatic singing coupled with screaming/
death growl, among other elements, to create what
AllMusic describes as "an intense, disturbing, and undeniably distinct experience".
The project's musical sources include
black metal,
,
,
progressive metal,
(especially
Baroque music),
,
,
and
trip hop.
It has provoked labels such as "Baroquecore"
and has been described as
.
In a 2017 interview, Serre said of the origin of Igorrr: "It started when I was a teenager looking for a band or an artist destroying all the limits of music, a band able to bring what all the boring mainstream bands could not bring."
Collaborations
With other musicians
Serre was part of Whourkr from 2005 up until 2013 when the group split up into their individual projects.
Igorrr released the
Maigre EP, a collaboration with French artist Ruby My Dear.
Starting in 2015, Serre is part of Corpo-Mente, where he works with vocalist Laure Le Prunenec. Their first self-titled album was on the label Blood Music and recorded at Improve Tone Studio in
Lezoux, France.
He also collaborated with fellow breakcore artist Bong-Ra
Serre worked with
The Algorithm on
Brute Force.
Serre has remixed songs for Morbid Angel (released on Illud Divinum Insanus – The Remixes
Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc
Igorrr composed half of the soundtrack to the musical film
directed by
Bruno Dumont.
The film was screened at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.
The soundtrack was nominated for Best Music at the 23rd Lumière Awards.
According to Serre, his initial compositions had a "medieval atmosphere", before the director told him to "just do Igorrr".
The score is described as "
electro-pop with a dose of heavy metal" and
Synth-pop.
Band members
Current members
-
Gautier Serre – guitar, programming, instrumentations, vocals
-
Erlend Caspersen – bass
-
Martyn Clément – guitar
-
JB Le Bail – harsh vocals
-
Marthe Alexandre – mezzo-soprano vocals
-
Rémi Serafino – drums
Former members
-
Laurent Lunoir – clean and harsh vocals
-
Laure Le Prunenec – clean vocals
-
Aphrodite Patoulidou – clean vocals
-
Patrick the chicken – chicken vocals, piano
-
Sylvain Bouvier – drums, percussion
Recurring studio members
-
Mike Leon – bass guitar
-
Antony Miranda – sitar, guitar, percussion
-
Nils Cheville – acoustic guitar
-
Timba Harris – strings
Discography
Studio albums
-
Nostril (2010)
-
Hallelujah (2012)
-
Savage Sinusoid (2017)
-
Spirituality and Distortion (2020)
-
Amen (2025)
Demos
-
Poisson Soluble (2006)
-
Moisissure (2008)
EPs
-
Baroquecore (2010)
-
Maigre with Ruby My Dear (2014)
with Whourkr
-
Demo (2005)
-
Naät (2007)
-
Concrete (2008, reissued 2010)
-
4247 Snare Drums (2012)
-
Naät + Concrete (2013, vinyl reissue)
with Corpo-Mente
External links
