Anne Foucher & Jean-Marc Foussat
Chair Ça
FRANCE FOU RECORDS FR-CD 61 CD / DIGITAL (2023)
Jean-Marc Foussat’s Fou Records release his work with his EMS Synthi AKS, piano, toys and voice. Here on Chair Ça, combined with the violin and electronics of Anne Foucher of the Acousmaki Collective. Two pieces; ‘’Circonstances Enfreites’’ and ‘’Nature du Bonheur (l’amateur d’aube)’’, but relaxation music this is not, even if you are sitting in a comfortable chair. There is a fair amount of unchanging delay effects on Foussat’s vocals on ‘’Circonstances Enfreites’’ Generic underuse of this type of device has come to irk this particular listener; with such a glut of vintage and modern delay processors on the market – particularly modern units that use digital circuits to produce infinitely variable and malleable repeats – I feel like I should question the intention of using this effect in such a basic way, but perhaps I won’t: this pair of musicians make a decent enough racket; a lively, bubbly concoction, meandering around their respective trains of thought until thoroughly satisfied with their resulting strategic aimlessness.
The second piece, ‘’Nature du Bonheur (l’amateur d’aube)’’, features endless portamento from Foucher against a gurgling backdrop of Synthi from Foussat. I have to give extra points for utilizing a working EMS Synthi AKS. I’m assuming a vintage unit is being used here and not something like the Ableton library of sounds. There’s a fair amount of interest in vintage synth sounds, but original EMS products are in private collections more often than they’re seen out on the road these days and are not only expensive and scarce but fragile. The relative affordability of modern versions, like the Erica Synths Syntrx II, do allow more people the chance to experience a Synthi-like environment and for me, it’s always nice to hear analogue synths in an improv context. If you’re an EMS fan, this cd is for you.