# Avril (French musician)

Fred Avril Magnon is a French composer based in Montmartre, Paris. As a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, he won international praise for two albums that showed a strong link with cinema.

## Biography

Avril got his start in film music in 2008 with Hong-Kong acclaimed director Johnnie To. His quasi-musical Man Jeuk's soundtrack was nominated at both the Hong Kong Film Awards and Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards, the film being a box-office hit in China. Fred Avril won the Stockholm Music Award with Swedish film Sound of Noise (Semaine de la critique, Cannes) about "sonic bombing". He then composed the score for the indie feature "The Lifeguard" (Liz W. Garcia) with Kristen Bell, that premiered in Sundance.
Other projects featured singers Mick Harvey (former member of the Bad Seeds) and late Christophe (singer). He co-composed with Marianne Elise the song in French box-office success Connasse, Princesse des cœurs introducing Camille Cottin.
In 2018, he composed the main theme for The Hook Up Plan. The music was uploaded by fans on YouTube and was streamed more than 5 million times throughout the world before being released by Bertelsmann Music Group. Avril also writes orchestral music, such as I Am Not an Easy Man. He won the Emile Award for Best Soundtrack for an Animated Series with adult manga series Lastman.

## Film soundtracks

| Year | Film | Director | Notes |
| 2007 | The Mad Detective | Johnnie To | |
| 2008 | Sparrow | Johnnie To | Premiered at Berlin International Film Festival 2008 |
| 2010 | Sound of Noise | Johannes Stjärne Nilsson and Ola Simonsson | Premiered in Cannes Semaine de la critique 2010 |
| 2011 | Attraction | Kōji Morimoto | INPI (interactive manga) |
| 2012 | Les Voies impénétrables | Maxime Govare and Noémie Saglio | Canal+ |
| 2013 | The Lifeguard | Liz W. Garcia | Premiered in Sundance 2013 |
| 2014 | Les Amis à vendre | Gaetan Bevernaege | Play by Gabor Rassov. Arte. |
| 2015 | Les Bêtises | Alice and Rose Philippon | End titles song performed by Christophe |
| 2015 | Rain | Johannes Stjärne Nilsson | Premiered at Seattle International Film Festival |
| 2016 | Jukai | Gabrielle Lissot | Won: Best Foreign Movie at Hong Kong International Film Festival 2016 |
| 2016 | Anissa 2002 | Fabienne Facco | |
| 2018 | Larguées | Eloïse Lang | Premiered in Alpe d'Huez |
| 2018 | I Am Not an Easy Man | Eleonore Pourriat | Netflix Original |
| 2019 | Pearl | Elsa Amiel | Premiered in Europe at Venice Days 2018 and in the US at Tribeca 2019 |
| 2019 | Qui m'aime me suive | José Alcala | End titles song performed by Mick Harvey |
| 2020 | Un Triomphe | Emmanuel Courcol | |
| 2023 | Mars Express | Jérémie Périn | |

## TV series soundtracks

| Year | Series | Director | Notes |
| 2017 | Lastman | Jérémie Périn | 26 episodes. Premiered in Annoy, 2017 |
| 2018 | The Hook Up Plan | Noémie Saglio, Julien Teisseire, Chris Lang (creators) | Netflix Original |
| 2020 | Brazen | Charlotte Cambon and Phuong Mai Nguyen | Premiered in San Diego Comic-Con 2019 |

## Discography
### Personal albums

* Now It's Spring (2000) (F Com)
* That Horse Must Be Starving (2002) (F Com)
* Members Only (2004) (F Com)

### Original soundtracks

* Sparrow (CD, Naive 2008)
* Sound of Noise (CD, Hybris, 2010)
* Les Bêtises Cine Music Club (2014)
* Connasse, Princesse des Coeurs (CD, Milan, 2015)
* Lastman (Vinyl, Everybody On Deck, 2017) (sold out)
* I Am Not an Easy Man (Plaza Mayor, 2018)
* Pearl (Plaza Mayor, 2019)
* Qui m'aime me suive (Plaza Mayor, 2019)
* Plan Coeur (BMG US, 2019)

### Other records

* Hollywood mon amour (« This Is Not America » cover featuring Juliette Lewis) (PIAS 2008)
* Nouvelle Vague Album Bande à part arrangement and production (Peacefrog 2006)
* Temposhark Invisible Ink Remix (Paper and Glue 2005)
* Olga Kouklaki, I U Need arrangement and production (EMI 2011)
* Stephan Eicher, L'Envolée composition and production p(Barclay/Universal, 2012)

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
| 2002 | That Horse Must Be Starving | Prix Constantin | Won |
| 2008 | Sparrow | Hong Kong International Film Festival | Nominated |
| 2008 | Sparrow | Taipei Film Festival | Nominated |
| 2010 | Sound of Noise | Stockholm Film Festival Music Award | Won |
| 2018 | Best soundtrack in an animated series in Europe for Lastman | Emile Award | Won |