The Squid's Ear Magazine

Loriot, Frantz

Reflections on an Introspective Path

Loriot, Frantz : Reflections on an Introspective Path (Neither/Nor Records)

French-Japanese violist Frantz Loriot's first solo album takes the viola into unusual territory, using an acousmatic approach to create music and sounds with no visual reference by transforming the sound of the viola through preparations and remarkable extended techniques, layering and assembling his works to create concrete statements of movement.
 

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UPC: 700261421483

Label: Neither/Nor Records
Catalog ID: n/n 002
Squidco Product Code: 21229

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2015
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Bunker Studios, in Brooklyn, New York, on December 20th, 2014, by Aaron Nevezie.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Reflections on an Introspective Path is Frantz Loriot's first solo viola album. Exploring the instrument in an exclusively acoustic setting he creates stunning microcosms of electronic-like sounds and textures through the use of preparations and extended techniques that he has developed over the past fifteen years. This meticulous research was initially prompted by his interest in electroacoustic and acousmatic music and in time it developed into a profound and personal musical journey.

Two other aspects were additional objectives for this project: the use of simultaneous layers of sound and the exploration of an array of ideas of form. The album was recorded and produced in New York City, and draws much inspiration from the years Frantz spent living there (2008-2012). The title of the album also finds meaning in Morgan O'Hara's artwork for the cover: the drawing is a portrayal of Frantz's movements while performing in her studio. Her work obliquely reflects the movement, timing, shapes and form of Frantz's music."-Neither/Nor Records



"According to Marcel Duchamp, to create we need to forget what we have learned. It is only by transcending what we have been taught, from an early age, that we can enter a real creative process. My solo pieces entitled Reflections on an Introspective Path are an attempt to achieve this transformation and to actively reflect upon it. Occidental string instruments have a particularly heavy, cloistered and well established homogenized tradition and avant-garde expression, which are pretty difficult to get rid of as a performer, especially if you have followed the so-called academic curriculum.

After having studied and performed different musical genres from classical to pop, from contemporary, improvised, experimental and electro-acoustic to rock, I realized it was time for me to find my own path in all these different styles. The first step I took was to 'forget' the knowledge gained from the outside and to get rid of the habits I had acquired and put to practice for over two decades.

The main influence that brought me to this new path was probably the acousmatic music, a musical movement initiated by the French composer Pierre Schaeffer (1910-1995) in the late 40's. The term acoustmatic was borrowed from the Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras, who taught his students from behind a curtain so that they could not see him nor his movements, allowing them, therefore, to focus on the voice without being disturbed by sight. Indeed, consciously or not, we tend to see images while hearing noises or listening to sounds. Pierre Schaeffer put this idea into a musical form and created music and sounds, which had no visual references, through the use of the new technologies of his time. He also invented the multiple speaker diffusion system, or the speakers' orchestra called the acousmonium. Nowadays, this musical field or movement is still in activity. Composers use different machines and computers in order to transform and modify the sound and spread their composition through the acousmonium.

My approach is slightly different, since I do not use any machines or electronic effects to modify the sound I produce. I start from the acoustic point and develop my own extended techniques to obtain 'new' and unusual sounds from my instrument. However, I keep in mind the idea of losing any visual reference - in this case of the instrument itself. Once all the different unpredictable, complex and surprising sounds are found, new issues show up concerning the form and the meaning of all this procedure. What was actually the point of finding all these unfamiliar sounds and tones and to create this non-complacent musical space?

Marcel Duchamp's The Afternoon Interviews (1964) and the collection of writings by Iannis Xenakis, Kéleütha (1955-1988), made it obvious that this 'sound material' should be assembled and given a concrete form as well as a precise direction. In this perspective, the hereby recording, its tracks and titles, the suite Confluences (in 3 movements), Equilibrium, Wick Machine and Thwart Path & Attained, refer to the idea of Movement. To finalize this 'object' which, in a certain way, questions the limit between the materiality and the immateriality of sound and music, I asked the artist Morgan O'Hara to draw the cover for the record. I thought her work would suit this approach and her drawing evokes the movements of my hands while performing in her New York studio. It also reflects, obliquely, the timing, shapes and form of my music. She called it Live Transmission."-Franz Loriot


Artist Biographies

"French-Japanese violist Frantz Loriot performs solo as well as in various ensembles by way of improvisation and electronics, crossroads of different musical genres: improvised music, experimental, rock, contemporary music and electronics. He has contributed to multidisciplinary projects related to dance, image and poetry.

Frantz Loriot leads two large ensembles, the European Notebook Large Ensemble, a 10 piece ensemble with Swiss, Japanese, Belgian and Italian musicians with which he released "Urban Furrow" on the Portuguese label Clean Feed (July 2015) and the NYC based 12 piece Systematic Distortion Orchestra in which Frantz reunites some of the finest NYC based improvisers and with which he released "The Assembly" on the NYC based label NowOut recordings.

Beside these projects, Frantz released his debut solo recording "Reflections on an Introspective Path" on the NYC based label Neither/Nor.

For the year 2016, Frantz got invited by the prestigious Météo - Mulhouse Music festival to be artist in residence for a new creation called Der dritte Treffpunkt. For this occasion, Frantz led and reunited a new French-Swiss quartet, Der Verboten, with pianist Cédric Piromalli, saxophonist Antoine Chessex and percussionist Christian Wolfarth.

Active in a number of international collective ensembles, his other personal projects include:

baloni - with Joachim Badenhorst (reeds) & Pascal Niggenkemper (contrabass), Natura Morta - with Sean Ali (contrabass) & Carlo Costa, duos with Jeremiah Cymerman (clarinet), Christoph Erb (saxophones) & Christian Wolfarth (percussions), the project Treffpunkt around international meetings with French pianist Cédric Piromalli.

He appears as a sideman in Joachim Badenhorst's Carate Urio Orchestra, Tobias Meier's Im Wald and Silvan Jeger

This Difficult Tree.

In addition to his own projects he has also worked alongside many musicians such as (a.o.), Barre Phillips, Joëlle Léandre, David S.Ware, Anthony Braxton & Walter Thompson Orchestra, Tony Conrad, Emilie Lesbros, Duane Pitre's ED09 ensemble, Ève Risser, Sabir Mateen, Michael Formanek, Andrea Parkins, Franck Vigroux, Jean-Luc Cappozzo, Alexei Borisov, Theresa Wong, Ernesto Rodrigues, Hilmar Jensson, Kita Naoki, Simon Nabatov, Steve Swell, Yagi Michiyo, Yasumune Morishige, Mikko Innanen, Christian Weber and many others.

Frantz Loriot performs regularly in Europe, USA and Japan.

Frantz Loriot appears on CDs released on international labels such as Clean Feed, Creative Sources, Intakt, Peira, FMR, Sickcore, Impressus, Prom Night Records, Basses Fréquences, Quiet Design, Edible Onion, Komma Null, Klein, Neither/Nor, OutNow, Wide Ear etc.

Frantz Loriot studied music in Paris with several professors (Mari Yasuda-Raclot, the Pons brothers, Nicolas Dupin, Ivry Gitlis, Yukari Tate & Pascal Robault) and was brought to improvisation by Régis Huby, Joëlle Léandre, Barre Phillips, and David S. Ware.

He was initiated to soundmassage by its creator, Thierry Madiot.

While living in NYC, he created and curated Ze Couch Series in Brooklyn, NY, from 2009 to 2012. After having lived in Paris and New York City, Frantz Loriot relocated in Zürich (Switzerland)."

-Frantz Loriot Website (http://www.frantzloriot.com/Bio_files/Complete%20bio%20ENG.1.pdf)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Confluences - Movement 1 6:26

2. Confluences - Movement 2 3:15

3. Confluences - Movement # 4:44

4. Equilibrium 7:50

5. Wick Machine 3:19

6. Thwart Path 3:19

7. Attained 1:56

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Stringed Instruments
Solo Artist Recordings
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
Acoustmatic Electronic Composition

Search for other titles on the label:
Neither/Nor Records.


Recommended & Related Releases:
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