Solo record by our favourite Algerian-born improviser from France, Jean-Marc Foussat. His Ombres Onctueuses (FOU RECORDS FR LP 10) was made using piano, voice, and his trusty Synthi AKS – along with various toys, objects, the jaw harp, and various studio effects. He did it in Thoronet, a village in Provence which I can only assume is both charming and conducive to the sort of meditation and concentration that he has brought into play for this offering. Even the titles given to the two sides, ‘The Blood of Pleasure’ and ‘A Delightful Garden’ promise us both a glimpse of an Edenic paradise and the kind of orgasmic emotive release which hasn’t been expressed in Europe since the days when Max Ernst stalked the earth.
Side A contains some truly freaked-out synth explosions and whirring life-forms, along with the wordless howls from his echoplexed, anguished voice, calling to us from the other side of the alps, while free-form piano blocks and hammering chords express the fundament and foundation layer in a rare mix of concrete and steel. My only regret on side A is how our hero keeps slowing down, losing momentum, restarting the engine, and coasting down the hill when you feel we should be attempting to leap up into the stratosphere, or at least grasping at Django Reinhardt’s nuages. But ‘Le Sang du Plaisir’ might be a bittersweet, semi-ironic utterance, attempting to conceal the deep melancholy that informs it and which continues to flow through Foussat’s weary veins. More than once, we are reminded of the late Keith Tippett with those confident, striding lower-register piano figures, while the synth work is every bit as powerful and noised-up as Thomas Lehn on any given afternoon. The open-ended shape of this piece is also remarkable, and at times you get the feeling the music just flows out of him without much pre-planning or arrangement – which is quite an achievement when you think there must have been at least one or two overdub sessions on the day.
B-side ‘Un Jardin Délicieux’ is that shade more considered and contemplative after that sprawling eclat, and we can savour moments of an articulate conversation between Synthi and piano as the two opposing forces find common ground. As ever, I’m always impressed how our man masters that tricky Synthi instrument with its patches and its knobs, always producing an expressive and humanistic voice from this most alien-sounding of all the synthetic beasts in the menagerie. Bold patterns and sequences matched with subtle use of looping and echo effects; he uses it like a painter with a box of watercolours. Foussat not only has the energy, the juice, and the passion, but he’s also truly committed to being free in free music. Recorded in 2022. Rather ordinary cover art perhaps (the back cover with its view of a shuttered interior is more intriguing). From 24 March 2023.