We need more “riding the donkey” records in our field of experimental music, although the topic is not wholly unknown in calypso, ska, English folk music, and country blues genres. Luckily today we have 3 Ânes (UNSOUNDS 83U), a record produced by the ad-hoc trio of stern experimenters, Benjamin Bondonneau, Xavier Charles, and Lionel Marchetti, calling themselves Locus Asper Locus.
They did it in an adventurous way. Instead of producing electro-acoustic improv in the warmth and safety of a studio (with tea and currant buns on hand), they went out in the wilds in Périgord, a lovely district of France replete with castles and priories, and enlisted three donkeys carrying all their gear. That’s right – they couldn’t quite bring themselves to abandon their synths, loudspeakers and effects pedals, so they too were packed into the panniers along with plenty of batteries. Along with this, all three of them played clarinets. The record is intended as some form of exploration or investigation of the sound of that instrument, and we are told they went to some pretty extreme lengths in pursuit of their goals.
3 Ânes is mostly pretty understated actually, apart from the occasional electronically-treated woodwind whoops that trouble the serene countryside sounds, and we feel long stretches where the asses aren’t really going anywhere and there isn’t much sonic substance to chew on. But Lionel Marchetti is a maestro for me, each project pushing the precepts and conventions of musique concrète further and further outside of their comfort zone as he finds new milieus, context, and locations fit for his composerly skills. We’ve also dug the clarinet intrusions of Xavier Charles for many years – he gravitates, it seems, to duo or trio combinations where he doesn’t need to shout to get our attention. Bondonneau I’m less familiar with, but he did contribute to Méandre(s): An experience in spontaneous, collective creating, so he could be said to have form in that space between field-recording and improvised music. He also provided journal extracts and drawings of the trip, with nifty images of speakers hung in trees and mike stands perched on a donkey’s back.
The trio attempted to follow in the footsteps of Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote Travels with a Donkey in 1878; one takeaway from that travelogue “outdoor literature” book is the continual grumbling, as he recounts his miserable struggles with the stubborn beast, but then after it’s all over he finds he really starts to miss old Modestine. This aspect, and the prosaic image of the donkeys on the cover, may lead you to suppose something quite different from the grooves of 3 Ânes, whose purposes are far more opaque. Also I should add they never once attempt to imitate the sound of braying with their clarinets, for which we are grateful. (23/09/2024)