Arpenter. D’INCISE
(Taâlem 2011)
Swiss-based sound artist d’incise (a.k.a. Laurent Peter) has scoured the experimental paths since aeons, it seems…frequently on the road as a well-trained improviser, he masters a large panel of influences. With d’incise, his solo vehicle, he encompasses tone ruptures, eroding rhythmic phrases,electro-acoustic inflections, and drones weaving.
“Arpenter”, his luxuriant concoction for Taâlem holding two penetrating pieces, is a plea for the act of listening, and the rooting out of the everyday musicality…
The about 8 mins “La Demeure” takes its inspiration from the wandering into an abandoned hospital in Chrzanow (Poland) ; using recordings of materials activated & gleaned in situ (stone, metal, glass, obsolete equipment …) reflecting its derelict ambience, d’incise breaks the real up in multiple sound blocks meticulously rearranged & collaged according to their inner characterisitics, vibrational colors, and own tactility…shards of glass for instance are stepped upon, swept up, rubbed against each other giving birth to delicate rhythmic figures punctuating in diverse ways the new emerged narrative structure. The whole effect is like witnessing the scene in a broken mirror where each fragment becomes an echo of something much larger, an indelible trace of the passage of time…
It’s all about physical confrontation, experience of a place, transposition of feelings, and the transformative power of its reinterpretation…
On “Aller S’étendre Sur La Rive”, the first seconds of the sound assemblage betray cars passing on a motorway, an overhead plane…further we hear tramway sounds, vague voices flitting about,wing flapping of pigeons, church reverberating space, probable radio interferences, etc… This enumeration whatsoever doesn’t do any justice to the singularity, efficiency of the final ensuing montage, as all those seemingly disparate elements are intelligently fused together such as to constitute evocative anchor zones for our own personal reminiscences.
Once again, d’incise processes by grouping sound fragments according to their timbres & textures, composing effortlessly natural entangled new worlds with a universal scope.
“Arpenter” is in the end a mighty catalyst of delicate emotions, with filmic qualities of the highest calibre, and Taâlem has thus given its support to a rather exceptional work.
-Daniel Crokaert
