Foussat Lazro
Trente-Cinq Minutes & Vingt-Trois Secondes
FRANCE FOU RECORDS FR-CD 62 CD / DIGITAL
Label head Jean-Marc Foussat breaks out his VCS3 synthesiser in sonic conversation with veteran French saxophonist Daunik Lazro. Active since the 80s, Lazro has worked with Jac Berrocal, Joe McPhee and Peter Kowald. Ah! A literal title! Thirty-five minutes and twenty-three seconds of inspired playing grouped into three distinct parts.
The first piece, “5 minutes 4 seconds”, embodies the mood of the late-night train station platform depicted on the front cover. Passing trains, a rush of wind, a partial vacuum. Stand back from the edge of the platform; the next train will not stop. The next piece, “26 minutes 45 seconds”, has a looser, chillier atmosphere that sets my mind wandering through imaginary forests at night before a perhaps somewhat inevitable bebop attempt jolts me back to reality. Here the VCS3 noises are just that – like the 1950s sci-fi B-movie soundtrack bleeps and bloops we’re all familiar with since forever. Is this a deliberate strategy to evoke nostalgia? Or something else? Maybe take a listen to Rashad Becker’s solo album Traditional Music of Notional Species Vol. 1 to hear what’s possible with electronics in our current position in time if you think synths just do one kind of thing. Aren’t all unwary musicians addicted to those darned Eurorack modular synths by now, anyway?
The final cut, “3 minutes and 19 seconds”, has some vocalisation added for uncertain purposes, but there’s no complaints from me. I think this album is my favourite of the two Fou releases here on my desk; the other being Chair Ça, Foussat’s collaboration with violinist Anne Foucher. There’s a great sense of being swept along with the musicians on these pieces; it is not just any old passive free jazz listening experience, if such a thing exists.