The Hylozoists

The Hylozoists are a Canadian instrumental rock supergroup formed in 2001 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The band's name is derived from hylozoism and was started as a side project of record producer and multi-instrumentalist Paul Aucoin.

History

The Hylozoists is an instrumental band conceived by producer Paul Aucoin in 2001. Aucoin wrote and recorded their first album La Nouvelle Gauche (using a line-up of musicians mainly from Halifax) in his studio in Nova Scotia. Sadly, The Hylozoists were moved to the back burner as Aucoin had to return to his responsibilities for the band The Sadies.

In 2004 Aucoin moved to Toronto where he revived The Hylozoists. This conception of The Hylozoists would consist of musicians from other bands such as The Weakerthans, FemBots, and Cuff the Duke. It was here that Aucoin started fresh and captured the collective sound of his new collaborators, he shed the idea of a “solo project” and created a full-blown supergroup.

The group's third album, L'île de Sept Villes, received a Juno Award nomination in 2010 for Instrumental Album of the Year.