Hiele

Roman Hiele (1991) is a Brussels-based musician and composer whose work explores the boundaries between improvisation and electronic composition. His music unfolds as a living system of shifting harmonies, fractured rhythms, and unexpected turns. At the core of Hiele’s practice lies a deep fascination for contrast, where his soundscapes act as both anchor and disruption, sharpening the emotional depth of images and spaces, a sensibility that extends into his collaborations with filmmakers, visual artists, and designers. His new album Emo Inhaler on Stroom brings these threads into a holistic work. The record condenses compositions born from improvisatory explorations and electro-acoustic experimentation. Recorded and concluded across various studios and train coupées, Emo Inhaler is expansive, yet tightly woven, creating a singular sonic identity that explores Hiele’s own world of musical off-key vignettes, balancing between light and sinister. With Emo Inhaler, Hiele reaffirms his place as one of Belgium’s most adventurous and distinctive contemporary voices. Over the past decade, Hiele has released albums on labels such as Ekster and Ultra Eczema, as well as through his own imprint Universal Exports. His work has been supported by residencies at EMS Stockholm, Willem II, Worm, the Red Bull Music Academy Paris, DeSingel Antwerp, and Kunstencentrum VIERNULVIER.