Putting less focus on the strings and more into sonic environments, French guitarist Pierre Gerard releases a set of eight abstract compositions for voice, guitar, cello, piano, violin, bass clarinet, electronics & field recordings, intended for random playing, employing silence and active sections to catch the passive or background listener off guard.
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Pierre Gerard-abstract voice, guitar, cello, piano, violin, bass clarinet, electronics, field recordings
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UPC: 4011778039563
Label: Edition Wandelweiser Records
Catalog ID: EWR 2120
Squidco Product Code: 31528
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2021
Country: Germany
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold 3 Panels
Recorded at the artist's home, in 2019 and 2020.
"These pieces are also intended for random listening. A cyclops eye. A sound color, pushing the angles. In a geometrically luminous ensemble. Crossing our day without any perceptible movement."-Pierre Gerard"
[...] on his solo CD, Gerard plays various instruments; abstract voice, guitar, cello, piano, violin, bass clarinet, electronics and field recording. They don't sound all at the same time. I have no idea how Pierre Gerrad feels about this, but oddly enough, I thought this wasn't as Wandelweiser as I expected. Sure, he uses a fair bit of silence, but one could also say that the eight pieces here are, hold on, a kind of pop music. Not exactly the kind your kids would like, but it struck me that Gastr Del Sol must heavily inspire Gerard. He shares that similar vulnerable ground. There are a few strums on a guitar, a voice singing a few words, a few piano tones, some electronics, and a schoolyard field recording. These are events that sit linearly rather than everything at the same time. Gerard takes the Gastr Del Sol sound a bit further, adding more silence, more abstraction and fewer vocals/lyrics - abstract voice is what he calls it. At forty-five minutes, one could say this is the correct length for such a work; I wouldn't be surprised if Gerard would rather see this on LP. While I enjoyed all of this, I think it is a bit repetitive on the ideas side. At one point, I imagined I heard all the variations of what a carefully strum and abstract voice might do, and I was hoping for a surprise change in the material. Maybe something that resembled something closer to a pop song? I don't know. Just the sheer fact that this is different from what I heard from Gerard before and that it is quite an atypical release for this label made me enjoy this a lot."-Fran da Waard, Vital Weekly
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Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Pierre Gerard "pierre gerard born in 1966 (BE) i work minimalism with acoustic instruments and electro-acoustic guitar since 2006 ..the object always present was at the center of my first research ..added a new interest in abstract voice since 2017 .. the improvisation in situ is the source of my music work (outdoor or architectural) ..over time i could describe this research more intuitive than minimalist ..in my electroacoustic compositions i try not to lose sight of intuition, silence,and a certain form of minimalism .. work on the object is strongly influenced by the presence of wood (assemblage/assembling, sculpture, installation _'the force fields of wood') but also glass, leather, felt and other natural materials (if possible found or recycled) .. in objects we would sometimes see sound compositions in 3 dimensions ..besides the intuition present here too, i keep a special attention for the encounter between human gesture and the form (organic, natural, accidental ..& intuitive, minimalist) .. each of these disciplines can occupy the architectural space,place par excellence of the gesture and the shape _'the gesture in the shape' .. storage stolen images in the form of paint traces the human migrations mental and physical ..who can inspire my path or express my disagreement .." ^ Hide Bio for Pierre Gerard
4/22/2024
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Track Listing:
1. The First Is A Circular Red 4:18
2. The Second Is A Small Triangular Green 3:14
3. The Third Is A Long Rectangular Blue 11:42
4. The Fourth Is A Lozenge Yellow 7:56
5. The Fifth Is An Oval White 2:45
6. The Sixth Is A Cubic Colorless 3:32
7. The Seventh Is A Cone Black 2:50
8. The Eighth Is A Square Ivory 7:58
Electro-Acoustic
Electroacoustic Composition
Stringed Instruments
Unusual Vocal Forms
Field Recordings
Guitarists, &c.
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
Solo Artist Recordings
New in Experimental & Electronic Music
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