Original soundtracks
Au fil du monde
Documentary series by Jill Coulon and Isabelle Dupuy Chavannat for ARTE
Multibroadcasted on ARTE from September 2017
Music by Jonathan Morali
L'Envers d'une Histoire
Film documentary by Mila TURAJLIC
Music by Jonathan Morali and Christelle Lassort
French release in September 2017
L'Enfer
Radio creation about Dante’s work for France Culture’s show Pop Fiction
Multibroadcasted on air in Spring 2018
Public performance at Festival d’Avignon 2016
Le Nouveau
Feature film by Rudi Rosenberg, produced by RECIFILMS.
Released December 23rd, 2015.
Original score: Jonathan Morali
Tout En Haut Du Monde
Animated feature film directed by Rémi Chayé, for Sacrebleu Productions.
Release date TBA
Winner of the Audience Award at the 2015 Annecy International Animation Film Festival
Original Score: Jonathan Morali and Damien Philippe / Sync: Syd Matters
L’Échappée Belle
Feature film directed by Emilie Cherpitel for Eliane Antoinette productions , with Clotilde Hesme, Florian Lemaire, Clotilde Courau
Producer, Distributor : Pyramide.
Released june 17th 2015,
Music by Jonathan Morali | Synchro : Syd matters
Les Grandes Grandes Vacances
10-episode animated series for France 3, directed by Paul Leluc, coproduced by Les Armateurs and France Television. Distributed by France Television and Cyber Group Studios.
France 3 broadcast April 3rd, 2015 / DVD June 2015
Part of the official competition at the 2015 Annecy International Animation Film Festival | Original score: Syd Matters
Life Is Strange
5-episode video game produced by DON’T NOD, distributed by SQUARE ENIX. Released in January 2015
Original score: Jonathan Morali / Sync: Syd Matters
Möbius
Feature film directed by Eric Rochant, produced by RECIFILMS, with Jean Dujardin, Cécile de France, Tim Roth. Released February 27th, 2013
Original score: Jonathan Morali
Les Adoptés
Feature film directed by Mélanie Laurent, produced by MOVE MOVIE, with Mélanie Laurent, Morgan Perez and Christophe Deslandes. Released November 23rd, 2011.
Original score: Jonathan Morali
La Question Humaine
Feature film directed by Nicolas Klotz, produced by Sophie Dulac, with Mathieu Amalric, Micheal Lonsdale, Edith Scob. Released September 12th, 2007.
Sélection Quinzaine des réalisateurs, Cannes 2007.
Original score: Syd Matters
Mauvaise Fille
Feature film directed by Patrick Mille, produced by Dimitri Rassam/Chapter 2, with Izia Higelin, Carole Bouquet, Bob Geldof. Released November 28th, 2012.
Original score: Jonathan Morali
Biography
Jonathan Morali is one of these solitary musicians, like Philip Glass, François de Roubaix or Elliott Smith, too sincere to follow trends, too wary of himself not to open his universe wide, too attached to perfection to do anything but develop his own truth.
Hence, he composes, alone in his studio, surrounded by a few instruments; not much, a piano, two keyboards, a guitar and a few effect pedals. And the melodies that ensue are beautiful and singular, haunted by soft and ancient melancholy, as though coming from another age, an antique folklore belonging only to him.
On stage and on his records, Jonathan is Syd Matters, surrounded by his musicians and collaborators. The author of four beautiful albums between 2003 (A Whisper and a Sigh and the poignant ‘Black & White Eyes’) and 2011 (Brother Ocean), his magnetic voice, soft arpeggios and subtle but spectacular constructions have put forward a singular artist with a unique style, inspired by 1960’s writing, the extravagance and freedom of the 70’s and the synthetic sounds of the last decade. Listening to ‘Everything Else’, ‘Obstacles’, ‘High Life’ or ‘To All of You’, we see the contours of his universe, an island with quiet shores, dense vegetation and steep mountains. An island at once welcoming and mysterious, familiar but not yet mapped, peopled by strange characters: Kenny, Jackson, Morpheus, and also stone men, centaurs…
Along with Syd Matters, Jonathan writes for the cinema. Under his name, he seems to feel protected, hidden among the story’s images and characters depicted on screen. Like Johnny Greenwood who escapes the constraints of Radiohead with his film scores, when Jonathan composes for a film, he gives way to his aspirations and intuitions. He kneads the sonic matter and its underlying emotions, putting as much emphasis on harmonies as on the space between the notes, as though free from the limitations of the song format.
It is said that a film director has only one film that he spends his life reshooting. Jonathan seems to always be writing the same song, seeking for truth in sound and the exact right balance. Since End & Start Again, his first single in 2003, his style is set: all at once epic and uncluttered, luminous without being glaring, generous but never verbose. Album after album, each song reveals a subtle change, a slight variation, a discreet modification in harmony. And each detail comes to enrich a fundamentally personal yet strangely familiar universe.
Thus, album after album, from the score of La Question Humaine to that of Möbius, Jonathan, carried by his experiences and his internal voice, endlessly strolls through his world-island, climbing its volcanoes, diving in its waters. And he carries us with him on an intense, magical and dreamlike voyage.
Michel Nassif