The trio formed, at the suggestion of Xavier Charles, to play at the 1999 Musique Action in Vandoeuvrve, and has since toured France, Austria and Switzerland and played the Victoriaville (Canada), LMC (UK), GMEA (France) and Huddersfield Contemporary (UK) festivals.
"There are moments where the grain of acoustic sound takes on the metallic colour one associates with the electronic, in the process redefining the idea of sonic modernity, disproving the idea that it can only be provided by new technology.
They illustrate acoustic instrumentation's capability for self renewal, and it's ability to create moment-to-moment uncertainty, the mystery of human breath becoming electronic."
Nick Cain, Opprobrium Magazine.
© mazen kerbaj - albi, france 2005
In May 2005 the trio spent a week working with sound diffusionist Laurent Sassi at Groupe de Music Electroacoustique d'Albi.
Some of the results are on the cd Albi Days.
"Every acoustic musician is at the mercy of the sound of the room they play in. Whilst there may be awkward mismatches for composed music, improvisers can, if they wish, radically shape their music to the acoustics in which they find themselves.
In Albi we explored this interplay a little further. Laurent Sassi recorded the trio in the large hall of L'Athanor cultural centre, in the extremely resonant antechamber of the Chapelle, in the Chapelle itself and in the dry studio of GMEA.
Some situations used multiple instrument microphones, others room mics. We played inside the Chapelle, with the microphones outside the room; in the studio, where two mics per instrument could create parallel trios; in L'Athanor, with Laurent manipulating a live mix from distant microphones placed all around the room.
The four of us then made pieces, edited from the many hours of music. Music concrete, composition maybe, that still, most of the time, to me anyway, sounds like musicians improvising together.
John Butcher, sleevenotes.
An extension of this project with Jean Pallandre (field recordings and manipulation) added, involving multiple microphone/speaker use and local pre-recordings, took place in Ulrichsberg, Austria on June 12 2009.
The quintet is the:
