Single-sided LP from Jean-Marc Foussat, who for this release in his occasional vinyl catalogue has come up with a solo outing Rêve (FOU RECORDS FR-LP 8.5) played on the Synthi and accompanied with piano, voice, and percussive objects…it’s a limited edition art object thing, signed and numbered, with two full-colour printed inner sleeves, one of which contains the record and the other containing a circular cardboard print. Plus there’s an insert print with a tracing of JMF’s hand presumably, on both sides, which if held to the light shows two hands reaching across time and space to make contact.
The images presented here are very romantic-surrealist, showing a moonlit night, drapery, unusual clouds in the sky, and a distorted pastoral view…I can’t help thinking of it as an improviser’s response to the cover of Wish You Were Here by Hipgnosis, that 1975 prog classic with its laboured and layered images attempting to express abstract ideas about “absence” while also depicting the four elements in some way…JMF is of course far more allusive and with a delicate artistic touch to his simple images. Meanwhile the music on Rêve is a dense swirl which becomes ever more intense, before dissipating like vapour into a mystical cloud of circuit noise hum…everything is underpinned by the actions of the Synthi AKS, an instrument whose difficulties present no challenges to him whatsoever, while the piano and percussion additions and overdubs are wild and untamed, raw naive presentations of free jazz…one would have loved to hear any English improviser from the 1970s getting carried away in like manner, exploiting the possibilities of overdubbing with such simple joy, painting for the love of colour.
While I often liken Foussat to a Surrealist, perhaps better to invoke Henri Matisse on this occasion. 2020 recordings, 250 copies were made. Playfully given the catalogue number of 8 ½ due to single-sided nature. (23/03/2023)
Also from Fou Records on vinyl, Gargorium (FR-LP 09) played by Sophie Agnel, Olivier Benoit and Daunik Lazro. The recordings from 2008 and 2009 were made by Peter Orins and Greg Pyvka, and we hear the trio on piano, electric guitar, and saxophones. Photo of stone gargoyle on cover may lead to expectations of something more grotesque, noisy and evil, but this mostly acoustic set is full of very subtle and nuanced playing, interplays of sax drone, gentle scraping action, distant piano chimes, and wiry guitar jangling. The players start each outing with respect, respect bordering on caution, and the conversation always seems to start a bit too slowly for me, but many useful contributions are made. (23/03/2023)