duo... |cs044

Oddly enough the disc of the final trio is called 'Duo...'. Here we find Cyril Epinat (acoustic guitar, objects), Mathias Forge (trombone, objects) and Jerome Bertholon (recording, electric lighter, quartz clock). This is the longest CD of the lot (clocking over seventy minutes) and at times also the most silent CD. One has to crank up the volume quite a lot to grasp some of the music. In true onkyo style they produce very careful and delicate music, in which the various instruments function as objects. If I understand well, the music was recorded outside, in a grove, in a leafy forest and a big field pond-side, which makes this incorporate fields, rather than field recordings. Another highlight. Frans de Waard (Vital)

We wrzesniu 2004 roku trójka autorów omawianej plyty wybrala sie na lono natury. Byla to chyba najmniej trzydniowa wyprawa, bowiem trudno jest mi to opisu plyty wydedukowac. Co prawda podane wewnatrz menu, sugeruje, ze wyprawa zaczela sie po poludniu w piatek [wspomniano tylko posilek wieczorny] a zakonczyla rankiem w niedziele [brak jakichkolwiek wzmianek o potrawach], ale czy muzycy powracali na noc do domów, czy tez nocowali poza nimi, nie wiadomo. Odnotowano, ze autorzy plyty odwedzili La Pierre Chatelus polozony w Cote Roannaise.
Epinat wzial ze soba gitare, Forge - puzon a Bertholon - zegarek, latarke oraz sprzet rejestrujacy. Byc moze mieli jeszcze inne wyposazenie, ale tego juz na okladce plyty "Duo..." nie odnotowano. Wiadomo tylko, ze pierwsi dwaj uzywali równiez jakichs niezidentyfikowanych obiektów, ale to, czy mieli je przy sobie, wyruszajac w droge, czy tez gdzies je znalezli, pozostaje tajemnica.
"Duo" to nieco dziwny tytul, jak na plyte firmowana trzema nazwiskami.
Czyzby wynikal on z tego, ze choc na instrumentach gralo tylko dwie osoby, to rola odegrana przez te trzecia - milczacego jest nie do przecenienia? Na pewno okolicznosci, w których zarejestrowano muzyke, wymagaly od Bertholona wiekszego niz to na ogól bywa wysilku, a byc moze specyficzne warunki sprawily, ze to co slyszymy w duzej mierze zalezy od niego, stal sie wiec jednym z trzech improwizatorów, rzeczywistym wspóltwórca muzyki.
Muzyki w przewazajacej czesci brudnej i bolesnej, i choc nagrania zdaja sie miec wyrazne zarysy, to glównie abstrakcyjnej, a momentami wrecz atonalnej.
Choc wiele tu grania na granicy slyszalnosci - pojawiaja sie momenty ciszy rodem z onkyo - to tych kilka czy kilkanascie glosniejszych fragmentów potrafi uderzyc obuchem zgielku niczego niespodziewajacego sie w sluchacza.
Z rzadka objawiajace sie tradycyjne frazy akustycznej gitary oraz puzonu sa tylko malymi atolami na oceanie cichszych lub glosniejszych szumów, swistów, trzasków, parskniec. Wyrazna melodia czy rytm pojawiaja sie tu tylko sladowo, muzycy na ogól drecza instrumenty, szarpiac je, trac, przedmuchujac, opukujac.
"Duo..." jest propozycja dosc hermetyczna, skierowana przede wszystkim do sluchaczy, którzy we wszystkim potrafia uslyszec muzyke, szczególnie zas do milosników tzw. "environmental improv". Ci, którzy znajda troche cierpliwosci i uwaznie wsluchaja sie w te dzwieki, zostana wynagrodzeni. Przez ponad siedemdziesiat minut beda mieli okazje obcowac z pierwszorzedna muzyka improwizowana, reprezentujaca jej surowa i niepokorna odmiane, jakze rózna od "krainy lagodnosci" spod znaku EAI. Tadeusz Kosiek (Gaz-Eta)

[…] O falsamente intitulado “Duo...” de Cyril Epinat, Mathias Forge e Jérôme Bertholon, não só porque são três os executantes mas também porque se fazem sentir os espaços de gravação ao ar livre, na qualidade até de quarto elemento, acrescenta objectos vários a instrumentos convencionais como a guitarra e o trombone, tratados também eles como meros objectos produtores de som e não enquanto utensílios musicais com um léxico e uma história. Isto para além de o próprio registo áudio ser creditado como um meio criativo, com a ironia de tudo acontecer a um nível de volume quase imperceptível. […] Rui Eduardo Paes (JL)

Taking a look at the liner notes, which refer to the music as a "sound track" while also providing a description of the meals eaten by the three protagonists during the recordings, then listening to the first sounds coming from the speakers, one gets the impression Duo... is a single improvised field recording where events sound accidental even when they aren't. Epinat and Forge play "objects" as well as their conventional instruments (acoustic guitar and trombone), while Bertholon records the proceedings, adding electric lighter and quartz clock to the sources. Spurious flatulence and third-generation scratches of dirty, cheap harmonics interact with environmental sounds; fluttering, splintered nervous outbursts are followed by scraping investigations and a rash of miniature acts of aggression. The tranquillity of wind and insect sounds that opens the fourth movement is soon interrupted by a passing car and Epinat knocking on his guitar body, after which microsonic explorations resume. It sounds like The Last Supper inside an anthill doused with sulphuric acid. The musicians smile and chow down on the corroded remnants, loading their car without haste. But the radiator's leaking. Massimo Ricci (Paris Transatlantic)

Epinat (acoustic guitar, objects) and Mathias Forge (trombone, objects) recorded these improvised tracks with Jérôme Bertholon (credited as "recording, electric lighter, quartz clock"!) in La Pierre Chatelus, in the Loire district of France. They performed outdoors (in a wood, in a field etc.) and you can actually hear crickets and other faint natural sounds while they play - but nothing as phonography-based as, say, Afflux's works. "Duo..." features honest, but a bit predictable and standard (if this word can be used for radical impro - I guess it can) pieces, with guitar-played-as-object ramblings and Dörner-style trombone gurgles and sputters. [...] Eugenio Maggi (Chain DLK)

Duo . . . (CS 044) is a fascinating, cryptic set of recordings from Cyril Epanat (acoustic guitar and objects), Mathias Forge (trombone and objects) and Jérôme Bertholon (recording, electric lighter, quartz clock). Recorded from over the course of 30-some hours—from just before midnight on a Friday until Sunday dawn—these very quiet pieces are mostly rather abstract and seem to reflect the “environmental” properties of the recording locations (all in Southern France, and credited simply as “grove”, “leafy forest”, “big field pondside”, and “’Chatelus’ stone”). Forge is certainly the more garrulous of the players, exploring the flatulent tailgating end of the sound spectrum but doing so—if this is possible—in a highly restrained fashion (which surely requires an impressive amount of control). Epanat will only rarely slash across the strings or pluck a single resounding note—he’s more likely, much more than Forge, to avoid the idiomatic properties of his instrument. Occasionally I thought I heard some insects buzzing in the environs and even more seldom there are passages of rising intensity. But most tracks are anything but effusive, with the players intent to merge with whatever sounds they find around them. Excellent stuff. Jason Bivins (One Final Note)

Et utvalg på fire utgivelser av en bolk på tolv nye fra Creative Sources. Den portugisiske labelen stadfester sin posisjon som den suverent mest kreative på sitt felt. Kvaliteten derimot er denne gangen mer varierende enn hva man er blitt vant til fra Ernesto Rodrigues’ hold.
Egentlig er “Duo…” en trioplate. Tittelen hentyder til samspillet mellom musikerne og innspillingsstedet, som er en olivenlund i Loire, Frankrike. Tidspunktet for innspillingen er tidlig september (2004), og naturens vell av sensommerlyder finnes i ren, uformidlet form både som bakgrunn og dialogpartner til de tre franske improvisatørene – for meg fullstendig ukjente, og for de fleste andre også, ifølge mangelen på informasjon om dem på nettet. Fuglekvitter, fluer og veps som summer, sirisser som synger utgjør soundtracket til en natur og et landskap som ennå ikke er ødelagt av menneskenes (støy-) forurensende fremferd. I tillegg til musikernes egne, menneskeskapte instrumenter og objekter – Cyril Epinat, Mathias Forge, Jérome Bertholon spiller henholdsvis akustisk gitar, trombone, elektrisk lighter og qartz-klokke – benyttes naturen aktivt i lydproduksjonen. Det trampes i kratt og gress, stokker blir knekt, kastet i bakken og rullet over tørre, solsvidde buskvekster. Musikerne lytter vel så mye som de spiller. Når de spiller legger de seg tett opptil naturens uttrykksregister og skapningene som lever der. Vindsus, villsvingrynt og hakkespettknatring er mimetiske (meta-) fiksjoner som enkelt lar seg sammenholde med virkeligheten. Å lytte til ”Duo…” er som å titte over skulderen på en friluftsmaler. Platen målbærer en god idé og instrumentbehandlingen er dugelig, men den er, etter mitt skjønn, litt i lengste laget (over 70 minutter). Frank Messel (Disquieting Duck)

Duo… est un trio qui a choisi d’enregistrer cette maquette dans la nature par un beau week-end de septembre. On y entend des grillons lointains, des souffles grivois, des excès salivaires, des silences boisés, des mouches affolées, des trombones sciés, des hulottes étonnées, des stridences prudentes. On y apprend que le trio (Cyril Epinat, Mathias Forge, Jérôme Bertholon) se la joue polenta, ratatouille et pâtes carbonara. On y découvre une pochette confectionnée à la main, un trio expert en récupération et en double système D (débrouille et dingo). On ne sait pas qui aura le courage d’écouter d’une traite (plus de 70 minutes quand même !) cette symphonie de l’étrange et du dérèglement, à part votre serviteur, lequel avoue, y avoir parfois pris quelque plaisir. Luc Bouquet (Improjazz)

[…] Le registrazioni di “Duo…” sono state effettuate all’aria aperta, in ambienti naturali della zona di Lione, dove i due risiedono, e non è una contraddizione se il disco è attribuito a ‘tre’ autori, essendo il tecnico addetto alle registrazioni (Jérôme Bertholon) parte integrante del progetto.
La musica è chiaramente orientata verso un’impro atematica e non idiomatica, con questa caratteristica di ambientazione a donarle sapori di bosco, di prato, di acqua, di pietra…. C’è da dire della giovanissima età dei
protagonisti, il che conferma quanto questo tipo di sperimentazioni siano ormai materia popolare, e dell’ottimo standard raggiunto nei concerti, dove una sorprendente gestualità accompagna la voce ‘insolita’ degli strumenti
(se vi capitano a tiro andate a vederli senza esitazione). Appare talmente ‘insolita’, la voce dei loro strumenti, che pur trattandosi di un concerto totalmente acustico, almeno quello a cui ho assistito, è sufficiente chiudere gli occhi per avere l’impressione di trovarsi al cospetto di qualche manipolatore di marchingegni elettronici. x e. g. (no ©) (Sands Zine)

Objets d'tart? That is certainly the flavor setting tongues and palettes wagging on Duos..., one of the more extreme releases on a label already credited with envelope-pushing. Instrument listing ranges from the known and the descriptive to the unusual and obscure, but all three gents here ply their trade most demonstrably by attacking the aforementioned objects: Epinat augments his arsenal of sound-makers with acoustic guitar, Forge squeaks trombone in-between, through and above, while Bertholon "plays" electric lighter and quartz clock, as well as the recording itself, chalked up (probably) to some ingenious processing or other, or through obtuse laptop interfacing. Either way, the confusingly titled Duos... (surely this is a group effort? What else might it be?) is an exercise in simultaneous elation and frustration.
Note that ellipsis in the album name — connoting high ambiguity, rampant mystery, a hefty degree of the unknown, barely-recognized glimpses into the palpable, those three seemingly insignificant dots emphasize that there's something indefinable afoot. Actually, it's Forge's trombone that cuts like a machete through the spindly underbrush, particularly on the second piece, "Saturday the 4th of September 2004, 16h23m, Leafy Forest", Epinat's henpecked guitar so threadbare it acts like a sonic exfoliant on the parchment-dry surroundings. That is, of course, when it's detectable: most of the time, the trio is reluctant to let the seams show in their music, interspersing pregnant pauses with the shallow decay of their struck objects in the hope that somehow these rubbed surfaces will catch fire. Even if their intentions are less bombastic — remember, this is a rarified, piecemeal music, all fits and starts, low on drama to begin with — the soundfield would benefit from a more pronounced virulence out of the players. As is, the odd (and little) skronk, squeal, titter, and tatter amount to, well, little. Duos... seems to proclaim that reductionism in improv isn't a "trend" but rather a mandate, doing as much as possible with the fewest implements. Fine on face, yet what this trio champions here trades minimalist invention for a desert of disconnected ideas; no doubt the artists feel otherwise, but unhinged squeals do not a record make. Darren Bergstein (The Squid's Ear)