Affine plane
Jean-Philippe Gross

In geometry, the concept of the Affine plane was invented in order to be able to talk about parallel lines without being encumbered by metric notions such as the distance between two points or the angle between two lines. With an expanded set, Stéphane Garin and Jean-Philippe Gross set out to renew the playground and aesthetics developed in Dénombrement. 

Plan affine takes as its starting point rhythmic sequences created with a synthesizer. These electronic sequences (loops/patterns) were recorded, notated and arranged for percussion. The two musicians created links and developed shapes and patterns by contrasting the machine's mechanical signals with their reproduction by the percussionists. The sequences generated fed into the composition, and the structure took shape naturally, starting with an electronic movement that fades away as the piece progresses, leaving the percussion in its simplest form, supported here and there by frequencies or a microphone.

The electronic part is fed by the percussion, which itself is modelled on the synthesizer loops that inspired the composition of this piece. The choice of percussion instruments is limited. We concentrated on woodwinds: wood block and mokubio, as well as chimes, acoustic frequency generators that are either rubbed or percussed. This choice is determined by the proximity of the timbres to the electronic sounds and the aesthetic continuity of our collaboration.

In addition, we added electronic pads to concretely materialize the transition from electronics to acoustics. Working in mirror-image mode enabled us to confront the organic nature of acoustic instruments with the intrinsic rhythmic mechanics of machines. The piece exploits the focal point of percussion. A background image that moves within an evolving, cannibalistic structure, where each movement feeds the next.

Counting
Stéphane Garin, Jean-Philippe Gross

For their first collaboration, Stéphane Garin (percussion) and Jean-Philippe Gross (electronics, diffusion) open wide the doors and windows to new soundscapes, where noises, atmospheres and instruments are subtly assembled. An inexhaustible composition, both fascinating and playful.

Jean-Philippe Gross and Stéphane Garin met in 2015 while collaborating within the Dedalus ensemble. Soon, they were laying the groundwork for a project that Jean-Philippe Gross had had in mind for some time: a percussion-based piece that would highlight different listening planes and play on the complementarity between live playing and its fixed, amplified version. A cut, direct piece that would displace the percussion and open up to its environment: Dénombrement.

In mathematics, enumeration is the determination of the number of elements in a whole. There are three, in this piece that Stéphane Garin and Jean-Philippe Gross have patiently assembled over the years: percussion, electronics and field recording.

This is exactly what we hear in Dénombrement , and much more besides: by taking percussion out of the studio or concert hall, the two musicians bring it back changed, into a new space that is that of the loudspeakers or your brain. There, they recreate a language and landscapes, sometimes uneven, sometimes straight, but always densely inhabited by their creators, caught in the very act of their practice. Words, snatches of discussion, trial and error, like a work of art growing before us.

And yet, it's a precision mechanism that's at play here, once the sounds, research and accidents have been tamed and integrated. If the magic of a trick is exhausted by revealing its tricks, listing the instruments, treatments and locations that nourished Dénombrement has the opposite effect: it sharpens and densifies the listening experience. In his studio, Jean-Philippe Gross created the electronic parts and treatments. During various sessions and residencies, Stéphane Garin played wood, metal and hide percussion instruments. There is also "situational percussion", when Jean-Philippe Gross left the microphones running, at times when Stéphane Garin was moving, sorting, tidying and disturbing his instruments.

Captured, reworked and arranged in this way, the elements of these ensembles form a coherent piece, at once very direct and rich in numerous listening planes (on headphones, it's an immersion). While the short, frenzied opening cavalcade of Floor tom and electronics takes the work into territory once explored by label Warp, Dénombrement unfolds in a different way: In between takes with mokubio plays on a cinematic atmosphere and unfolding, where the ear swings between quasi-metronomic percussion and intriguing soundscapes. Things are happening, birds are flying, the wind is blowing. With a delightful taste for play and adventure, Stéphane Garin and Jean-Philippe Gross go on to experiment with repetitive music, drone and electroacoustics, but define their own rules. They create, saturate, purify, capture and tame sounds into a new language, the fruit of a rare balance between acoustics and electronics.