The Squid's Ear
Writing about improvised, contemporary, experimental and unusual music,
following the activities of Squidco...
  •  •  •     Join Our Mailing List!



The Squid's Ear




Heard In

Reviews of artist releases:
cd's, books, magazines, &c.


  Marco Fusi / Pierre Alexandre Tremblay 
  Suite
  (Bead Records) 


  
   review by Ken Waxman
  2026-09-23
Marco Fusi / Pierre Alexandre Tremblay: Suite (Bead Records)

Stretching the definition of a suite into the 21st Century, Italian violinist and viola d'amore player Marco Fusi and Canadian bass guitarist and electronics shaper Pierre Alexandre Tremblay create six linked improvisations that depend as much on voltage expression as acoustic intertwining. Despite both being university professors, Tremblay in the United Kingdom and Fusi in Belgium, there's no whiff of classroom attached to this session. The only academic consciousness projected is the search for the novel, unique and unexpected textures.

While part of the interface reflects and echoes waves of processed electronics, Tremblay, whose free form experience includes recording with among others Philipp Wachsmann and Emil Karlsen, and Fusi, whose contemporary music background encompasses programs with Pierre Boulez, Lorin Maazel and other ensembles, neither loses track of instrumental qualities.

Seeming unending solid drones, processed refractions and synthesized buzzes may be omnipresent, but space exists for forthright arco string slices and vibrating pizzicato plucks on the violinist's part and pressurized twangs and frails from the bass guitarist. In fact, there are interludes, as on section "V" where a rhythmic bass solo breaks loose from the strained processing and on "II" where Tremblay's subtle fingering suggest a guitar played melody. Strained bow pressure and spiccato lines express Fusi's strategies elsewhere.

At the same time these acoustic sequences are antagonistic or disdainful of the electronic creations. Many of the standout motifs occur when, for instance, the violinist's thinning resonation and ratcheting strains are mirrored by voltage processing. Elsewhere the bass guitarist's cadenced thumb pats cleave carefully to the electronic fizz in such a way that the undulating programed patterns appear to be amplifying as well as altering Tremblay's linear string trembles.

Designed for deep listening Suite isn't your ancestors so-called classical music suite. But it contains enough horizontal movement and musical surprises to keep the program constantly appealing, even if slightly dissonant.







Comments and Feedback:



More Recent Reviews, Articles, and Interviews @ The Squid's Ear...


The Squid's Ear presents
reviews about releases
sold at Squidco.com
written by
independent writers.

Squidco

Recent Selections @ Squidco:


Don Cherry (
w/ Walcott/
Thomas):
Sunrise (
1977)
[VINYL 2 LPs]
(WeWantSounds)



Don Cherry (
w/ Walcott/
Thomas):
Sunrise (
1977)
(WeWantSounds)



Satoko Fujii's Orchestra Tokyo:
Kappa Ondo
[2 CDs]
(Libra)



Sunny Murray/
Arthur Doyle/
Rasul Siddik:
New Light
[VINYL]
(NoBusiness)



Sunny Murray/
Arthur Doyle/
Rasul Siddik:
Incantations
(NoBusiness)



Sunny Murray/
Arthur Doyle/
Rasul Siddik:
Incantations
[VINYL]
(NoBusiness)



Brandon Seabrook (
w/ Frisell/
Carter/
Gilmore):
Utility Modern
(Out Of Your Head Records)



Threadgill Zooid, Henry:
Cut You Where
You Was
(Pi Recordings)



Henry Threadgill Zooid:
Cut You
Where You Was
[VINYL]
(Pi Recordings)



Rempis/
Abrams/
Ra + Baker:
The Walls of
the Temple
Are Made of Sound
[2 CDs]
(Aerophonic)



Rova (
Ackley/
Adam/
Ochs/
Raskin):
Those Who...
(ESP)



Michael Thieke/
Luigi Marino:
For The Skylarks
[CASSETTE w/ DONLOAD]
(Emergent Idioms)



Jason Hwang Kao/
Human Rites Trio (
w/ Drury/
Filiano):
Second Life
(True Sound Recordings)



Wadada Smith Leo (
Courvoisier/
Laswell/
Gibbs/
akLaff/
&c.):
Constellations
And
Hemispheres
(Burning Ambulance Music)



Casserley/
Marzan/
Van Schouwburg/
Wachsmann:
Being
(Bead)



Gebhard Ullmann (
w/ Steve Swell/
Joe Morris/
Charles Downs):
Coffee And Berries
(ESP Disk)



Gottliche Skizzen (
Delazer/
Delius/
Obleser):
Ringi Ringd Coint
(ezz-thetics now)



Sonelius Smith/
Adam Kahan:
We'll Let You Know
When We Find Out
[VINYL]
(577 Records)



Sophie Hassfurther:
Kaleidoscope -
Empathy
(ezz-thetics now)



Airlift (
Diehl/
Lowery/
Lawson/
Levin/
Lavelle/
Hotep/
Marquez/
Dennis):
Spatial Recognition
[2 CDs]
(577 Records)







Squidco
Click here to
advertise with
The Squid's Ear






The Squid's Ear pays its writers.
Interested in becoming a reviewer?




The Squid's Ear is the companion magazine to the online music shop Squidco !


  Copyright © Squidco. All rights reserved. Trademarks. (20084)