Gilles Gobeil / Rene Lussier – Le contrat

[this review also deals with Stephane Roy – Migrations]

Empreintes Digitales simply keeps bombarding the world with their high-quality releases of old and new electro-acoustic composers. ?Le contrat? by Gilles Gobeil and Rene Lussier, and ?Migrations? by Stephane Roy are the latest in an ever-growing series that documents the ever expanding history of mainly French and Canadian compositions in the field of musique concrete.

?Le Contrat? is a work that uses elements from classical music, contemporary electronic music and sampling techniques. Gobeil and Lussier present a CD filled with spooky and often distant soundcapes that are interluded with samples of spoken work, sudden bursts of orchestral music and recurring hints of rock music and noise. This almost ?punky? combination is very strange but somehow works quite well, although I must add that this makes this CD not very suitable for a classification such as ?easy listening?.

Migrations by Stephane Roy is a lot less eclectic and focuses more on orchestral manipulations and concrete recordings. Layers of processed ?classical? instruments build up to a dramatic intensity that reminds me of the works of Francis Dhomont. Roy also uses spoken word, in a way that is very atmospheric and subtle. Constant drifting soundscapes are used to create an exciting piece of work that begs for your attention.

Again Empreintes Digitales delivers two excellent and challenging pieces of work.

artist: Gilles Gobeil / Rene Lussier
label: Empreintes Digitales
details: IMED 0372