We evidently did receive A Reassuring Elsewhere Chapter I from French player Philippe Petit earlier in 2023, but no sign of a review from these encrusted fingertips. But he’s back already with Chapter II (OSCILLATIONS OSC007) of this projected three-part sequence, with its colourful abstract-art cover whose imagery sits somewhere between a Miró painting and a Calder mobile, two 20th century visual giants, albeit produced here by digital means. The music here likewise tips its hat to 20th century musical forms – assuming that’s what is meant by “early electronics” – so perhaps this Marseille maverick has one ear leaning towards Stockhausen and his other senses pointed towards, say, Schaeffer, Oliveros, and Berio.
For his experiments, he uses a prepared piano soundboard but also the trusty EMS synthi A and the Buchla 200 as well, along with occasional vocals and “inside piano” moments. Still, not much use in me making any of these comparisons when the artiste personally favours a very intuitive approach to his music; he wants to “take us through a looking glass in hope of reaching a wonderland”. In weaving his works, which he likens to magic tricks and illusions, he proposes an inversion of normality where nothing is what it seems, and presumably whatever we hear on the record isn’t quite what we think it is. Other creators might use such a ploy if they wanted to disorient or unsettle their audience, but Petit is clear – his imaginary environment is a “reassuring” one, hence the title.
The achievement of this record is that it manages to be mildly surprising, rather than outright shocking, with its odd sounds; part of this is that dynamics, changes, and shifts in texture are executed quite gently and slowly, minimising the stress-factor and alarm that we assume must have been visited upon the unsuspecting listener who heard Studie II for the first time in 1954. For Petit, this works very well on ‘Part 4’, 8:46 mins of subtle deceptions and audio treachery that take us down a gentle slope that is welcoming and soft underfoot, and we’re all but unaware of what’s really happening until we wake up in a completely unexpected place by the end of it. (31/10/2023)