The Possibility Of A New Work For Aquaserge (Made To Measure, Vol. 46)

Description

Crossing the borders that separate genres is what drives Aquaserge, a variable-geometry experimental pop group whose influence extends far beyond France. With this 6th album, the band makes the happy bet of exploring the inner waters of so-called contemporary music from the mid-20th century, through four of its great atypical figures: Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988), Gyorgy Ligeti (1923-2006), Edgard Varèse (1883-1965) and Morton Feldman (1926-1987). Drawing inspiration from these composers’ approach to dynamics, sonic textures and duration, notably the timbral games and oscillations favored by Scelsi, Ligeti’s shifting clusters, Varèse’s melodic cubism or Feldman’s graphic scores, Aquaserge invites listeners to break free from the territorial rules of a certain learned music, thanks to a hybrid instrumentation halfway between rock and classical, combining intuitive gesture and rigor on graph paper. Synthesizer canons, wind fugues, spectral guitar episodes, Aquaserge’s new record is built around three slow, stretched, airy pieces, in which the timbres of the instruments blend into one another to form a fascinating sonic matter, at once moving and still, as in certain works by Ligeti and Scelsi. These tracks alternate with free and explosive moments (tributes to Varèse and Feldman), as well as three covers of rare songs written by these two composers, just to not forget Aquaserge’s taste for romantic pop melodies. These compositions will be performed, alongside a few others, in the musical and theatrical show staged by Aquaserge, entitled The Possibility of a New Work for Aquaserge - Perdu dans un étui de guitare. The album is released as part of 'Made To Measure', the famous composers' series from Crammed Discs, which is being relaunched this year.