Contemporary musique concrète from Canada on Lames de Fond (empreintes DIGITALes IMED 22178), credited to two Quebec musicians – the composer Martin Bédard, currently teacher at Montreal, and the flautist and composer Marie-Hélène Breault.
Bédard (he also made Topographies for this label in 2013) seems to be a real heavy-hitter; part of his philosophy is to “question the grammar of sonic organisation” in digital audio composition, and this sort of no-prisoners ethic might be detectable in the opening salvo ‘Honey (Architectures From Silence No. 1)’. Prepare for about 18 mins of ruthless bombardment and remorseless sweeps of over-loaded, layered sound coming at you like 18 tidal waves. Apparently he drew inspiration from bees making honey; in the simple act of honey-production, he perceives a very lengthy and complex process, resulting in an elaborate structure. Plus it’s also rich in symbolism and a handy metaphor for various acts of transformation, which evidently occupy the mind and hands of any self-respecting digital composer today. Phew. I know I’m always asking for more “incident” in this genre of music, and now here it is in abundance.
Only slightly less exhausting is ‘Extensio: Warm: Up’, co-composed with Breault, and showcasing her flute sounds – often radically transformed inside the digital workstation, reprocessed, recomposed and changed into something that’s both quite alien, and also amounts to a layered, impossible, hyper-orchestra of multi-dimensional flutes from beyond the Planet Jupiter. This one isn’t propounding a concept like the ‘Honey’ thing, and instead is mainly about technique and method – in this case loops and layers – applied to those moments when a musician is just warming-up before the main performance. (Fun fact: apparently this is how Marvin Gaye captured a great saxophone lick from a session man on What’s Going On, who thought he was just doodling away and yet ended up on the finished record.)
Another piece self-consciously drawing attention to its own method is ‘Replica’, drawing subtle distinctions between “pure instrumental sound and rebuilt sound” within its terrifying labyrinthine passages. It hopes thereby to make some philosophical point about being reborn and changed and yet remaining the same. A pretty overpowering, intense set, but these composers are working overtime to bring you profound sonic transformations, heaped up in abundance. From 2nd March 2023.