Francois Bayle – Theatre d’Ombres + Mimameta
Even more complex and detailed than Erosphere, this rare, out-of-print CD contains two pieces from the late ’80s that are the most shining displays of virtuosic electro-acoustic sound manipulation from the master. “Théatre d’Ombres” (1987-89) is a 39-minute piece in two sections. A single note blown into an acoustic wind instrument takes us into a quivering dream world of echoing, reverberating and skittering sound fabrics. “This story is about sound-characters at grips with space—beneficient or maleficient space, spaces which resist, rough spaces or smoothly harmonious spaces. One of the sound characters acts as the hero. Will the listener identify with him? Probably. And for the hero to remain as he often is in stories, he will have to undergo trials and crossings, transformations and combats, metamorphoses related to magic objects. So I searched among the magic peculiar to image-sounds—i-sounds—for new methods of micro-editing, moulds or sieves applied to different kinds of materials, creating internal implicit relations. The victory, if it is one, will require the listener-hero to move ‘behind the image’ into the region of ‘white shadows,’ i.e. that place of serenity where the human shadow becomes transparent. Let us call that transparency silence—the moment when the energy contours, no longer acting on the phonic materials, seem to have a hold on attention itself. A moment’s thought, whereupon: silence. An angel passes by. But could it be the shadow of a doubt?”—François Bayle. “Mimaméta” (1989) is a much shorter 11-minute workout full of very resonant bell-like timbres, synth drones, reverberated knocks and much more chiming freedom—all sustained for maximum cortex-massaging pleasure.
Label: Magison Cycle Bayle Volume 2 Catalog Number: MG CB 0291 Format: CD Packaging: Jewel case Tracks: 2 Total Time: 50:48 Country: France Released: 1991 Related Artists: Luc Ferrari, Bernard Parmegiani, Pierre Schaeffer More: Electro CD, Forced Exposure, Official, Wikipedia
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