I’m in awe of performers who can improvise and not lose the thread of
what they’re doing, not go on wanking and pushing until very little remains of
what they intended to accomplish in the first place. That’s why you’ll see me
go off on jam bands periodically around here – I just don’t get the
masturbatory impulses of country rock stretched to interminable lengths. I
mean, I understand the appeal of it to people on acid and stuff, I guess, but
man, it just does not do anything for
me. Plus, everybody’s always dirty and smelly. Blech.
At least improvised experimental music is often performed by clean
people, and sometimes even in museums! I kid, I kid, that’s not the real
difference. Without spending an inordinate amount of time explaining why
Demeure & Jardin, who sound nothing like, say, Phish, appeal to me more
than, say, Phish do, I’ll just call it a matter of taste and leave it there.
Because there is nothing even remotely connecting the two styles. Demeure &
Jardin, the performing moniker of Martin Deck-Roussel and Lény Bernay,
respectively, allow their synthesizer rigs to do the talking, and somehow have
the wherewithal to craft monuments of sound filled with life and excitement.
And it’s all improvised. Take that you stupid Trey Anastasio!
Anyway, before I call down the ire of the editors who are constantly
watching, I should probably get to the release itself. To Stand Like a Rainbow was recorded live at an event of the same
name, at Poutres Apparentes, an artist collective in Nantes, France on March
14, 2015. As I’ve mentioned, Demeure & Jardin treated the audience to an
amazing array of synthesizer mania, and it has been captured on cassette and
released by Paris-based Hylé Tapes. Recalling the masters—and you should watch
the synthesizer documentary I Dream of
Wires to totally get the vibe of Morton Subotnick, Klaus Schultze, or Keith
Fullerton Whitman, just to name a few—To
Stand Like a Rainbow plays like a road trip through styles and periods, the
playfulness and reverence inherent in everything the two artists do. The longer
pieces, such as “New York Is Burning,” “Remember the Liberty Tower,” and the
title track, sometimes recall Tangerine Dream or Vangelis, stretching out and
evolving. Shorter pieces act as transitions and sometimes feature vocal samples
and other oddities that don’t necessarily fit within the longer ones (see, in
particular, “L.T. Works” and “Dell”). It’s all pretty amazing, and endlessly
engaging.
Whatever your penchant for experimental synthesizer music, you owe it
to yourself to check out two artists who are clearly at the top of their game.
This is a great introduction to the possibilities of synthesizer improvisation,
and also a great continuation of the legacy of the instrument. I only wish I
had been at the performance to see Demeure & Jardin in action. For those
who were there, it probably would have looked and sounded awesome with a little
bit of chemical enhancement. Shoot, there I go, contradicting myself.
--Ryan Masteller
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