Biography
A composer, producer, and sound designer from Germany, Ben Lukas Boysen crafts pieces that stretch from minimal and mournful ambient textures plus film scores to densely layered techno and IDM. Recognition first arrived through his glitch-infused and occasionally explosive output as Hecq, which touched on breakcore before shifting toward dubstep. During the 2010s he turned primary attention to releases under his given name, opening with the initial of multiple soundtracks, 2012’s Restive. Ambient, modern classical, and post-rock directions surfaced on 2013’s Gravity and 2016’s Spells, after which he returned to rhythm-driven material on 2024’s Alta Ripa, his release most shaped by techno.
Born in 1981 to opera singer Deirdre Boysen and actor Claus Boysen, he trained on classical guitar and piano while young. In the early 2000s he established himself in Berlin, opened the studio Hecq Audio, and began issuing electronic music as Hecq. His first album, A Dried Youth, arrived on Kaleidoskop in 2003 and drew substantially from the glitch-oriented atmospheric electronics of Autechre and Cristian Vogel. The following three Hecq albums appeared jointly on IDM and industrial imprint Hymen Records, which thereafter served as the project’s main home; these included 2004’s Scatterheart and the 2007 double-CD 0000, both blending breakcore with drone elements. Remixes for Snog, End, and Haujobb followed, while the earliest material under Boysen’s own name, the dark ambient mini-album Infinite Rounds, surfaced in 2007. Hecq’s range later broadened to experimental hip-hop and dubstep across 2009’s Steeltongued and 2011’s Avenger. Although that project stayed active, Boysen issued his debut soundtrack Restive in 2012 and Mother Nature the next year. Gravity, an album bridging ambient, modern classical, and post-rock influences, came out on Ad Noiseam in 2013.
He joined Erased Tapes and first released the short score Sundays in 2015. The label reissued Gravity in 2016 and also put out Spells, which continued in a comparable style. The video-game soundtrack Everything, created jointly with Sebastian Plano, appeared in 2017. His techno-leaning Golden Times 1 EP featured remixes by Tim Hecker and Max Cooper. The downtempo Grains & Motes EP with Neil Cowley arrived in 2019, and that same year he worked with Martyn Heyne on the EP Thesis 16. Milan Records additionally released his soundtrack The Collini Case. The solo album Mirage followed in 2020, and Siren Songs (Original Score for an Abandoned Video Game) emerged in 2021. His 2022 EP Clarion carried remixes by Mogwai, Foodman, and Erased Tapes associates Kiasmos. The Lazarus Project (Original Score), made with Paul Emmerich, contained contributions from Nailah Hunter, Qasim Naqvi, Midori Hirano, and Anne Müller. Alongside Müller, Jon Hopkins, and Lisa Morgenstern, Boysen supplied music for the 2024 film Falling Into Place. With Alta Ripa he revisited his earlier techno roots.
Born in 1981 to opera singer Deirdre Boysen and actor Claus Boysen, he trained on classical guitar and piano while young. In the early 2000s he established himself in Berlin, opened the studio Hecq Audio, and began issuing electronic music as Hecq. His first album, A Dried Youth, arrived on Kaleidoskop in 2003 and drew substantially from the glitch-oriented atmospheric electronics of Autechre and Cristian Vogel. The following three Hecq albums appeared jointly on IDM and industrial imprint Hymen Records, which thereafter served as the project’s main home; these included 2004’s Scatterheart and the 2007 double-CD 0000, both blending breakcore with drone elements. Remixes for Snog, End, and Haujobb followed, while the earliest material under Boysen’s own name, the dark ambient mini-album Infinite Rounds, surfaced in 2007. Hecq’s range later broadened to experimental hip-hop and dubstep across 2009’s Steeltongued and 2011’s Avenger. Although that project stayed active, Boysen issued his debut soundtrack Restive in 2012 and Mother Nature the next year. Gravity, an album bridging ambient, modern classical, and post-rock influences, came out on Ad Noiseam in 2013.
He joined Erased Tapes and first released the short score Sundays in 2015. The label reissued Gravity in 2016 and also put out Spells, which continued in a comparable style. The video-game soundtrack Everything, created jointly with Sebastian Plano, appeared in 2017. His techno-leaning Golden Times 1 EP featured remixes by Tim Hecker and Max Cooper. The downtempo Grains & Motes EP with Neil Cowley arrived in 2019, and that same year he worked with Martyn Heyne on the EP Thesis 16. Milan Records additionally released his soundtrack The Collini Case. The solo album Mirage followed in 2020, and Siren Songs (Original Score for an Abandoned Video Game) emerged in 2021. His 2022 EP Clarion carried remixes by Mogwai, Foodman, and Erased Tapes associates Kiasmos. The Lazarus Project (Original Score), made with Paul Emmerich, contained contributions from Nailah Hunter, Qasim Naqvi, Midori Hirano, and Anne Müller. Alongside Müller, Jon Hopkins, and Lisa Morgenstern, Boysen supplied music for the 2024 film Falling Into Place. With Alta Ripa he revisited his earlier techno roots.
Albums
Flageolets
2025
Alta Ripa
2024
Music for Falling Into Place (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
2024
The Lazarus Project (Original Score)
2022
Siren Songs
2021
Prayer (Ben Lukas Boysen Rework)
2021
Mirage
2020
Everything
2017
Spells
2016
Gravity
2016
Singles
