Arcane Candy

Continuing to fill in gaps of the proposed complete Cycle Bayle Series of 18 volumes, this impressive double digipak houses a sprawling set of music from the early ’80s. Like the CD reissue of Erosphère, this pak and booklet also feature many photos of the composer in a live, smoke-filled, laser-lit setting. Starting off disc one, “Grandeur Nature” (1980) is a thick, 32-minute flag of quietly churning, ghostly atmosphere. Moaning electronics with high-pitched pings, fluttering skyscapes, insects, birds, low-rumbles, sea-bottom churns and other outdoor ambience coalesce into the listener with the greatest of ease. “Imagine an object that is coming to visit us from many light years away. Journey. Approach. Images of speed. Soundscapes. First contact. Observations. Uneasy movements. Departures and discreet disappearances.”

“Paysage, Personage, Nuage” (1980) is a quiet foray into non-descript zones—teeming with dull stabs, meditative realms, an occasional insect and vocal slices. “The object, motionless, far away, is connected. The scene is bare. A desert—an oasis perhaps. Vocal manifestations, then suddenly, a commentary. My voice giving a speech. It comes in snatches, like interference on a radio. The scene continues. Interference from electronic mirages. It seems to be burning and crackling like the film from a great celluloid image.” “Voyage Au Centre De La Tete” (1981) opens up disc two with a very loud, churning rhythmic pulse and concrète knocks. After a brief pause, loud ‘n’ swirling masses gradually give way to more placid, quirky meditations. A vigorously chopped field of vocal shards gets smeared all around your mind—eventually fading away into shy areas. “Voyage To The Center Of The Head,” indeed. “Two sound-images come together and begin to converse and respond, adopting one another as two fragments of the same thing: the transformed sound of chanting in a monastery and the natural sound of a woman at home making coffee (inside the coffee pot versus the center of the head!)”

“Le Sommeil d’Euclide” (1983) begins with lightweight shimmers interspersed with loud, electronic interruptions. A quiet wash with beeps, pings, jerky strip vocals and concrète sounds is sometimes interrupted by filtered chaos. “Two forms occupy the auditory space of this work. The first is radically modified to transcend perception, thus creating an illusion space, a phantasmagorical effect. The second (including the substantial fragments into which it is broken) is roughly shaken up; the ear can make out the degrees of order and disorder that are intentionally added. The transformation of the first form (derived from a short sample with a creaking pulley) consists of variously transposed progressive elongations and minute, descending transitions. The second form consists of samples of song and sounds accompanying the act of raising water with an Indian noria. The way the creaking of the pulley is reflected in the singing of the water-drawers already constitutes, I believe, a natural transformation. The object moves in its own particular way, following a logic to which we shall one day, no doubt, find the key, since music already provides us with a certain intuition.”

“Lumiere Ralentie” (1983) ends the 2-CD set with more loud, swirling masses that give way to a more subdued 21 minutes of deep space ruminations that are once again ruptured with rising amplitude near the end. “The object has become wind. Half the duration of this piece is taken up by a pattern of interlacing winds with as little phonic resistance as possible. Melodies that are understood, variations in speed, gusts, lulls, whirlwinds and air movements that may be conveyed by sound (speed-light). Then everything freezes, in straight lines, layers, stripes, projected colors, loops, with flying objects slowly passing through, observing. Are they listening? Change of scale. A peaceful night. Suspension. But we must end. The object has to leave. Enough information. Or is it’s energy spent? No time to waste. It goes, leaving behind just a trace—which soon evaporates.”—François Bayle

Label: Magison Cycle Bayle Volumes 9-10 Catalog Number: MG CB 9097 Format: 2-CD Packaging: Double-Digi-Pak Tracks: CD 1: 5, CD 2: 12 Total Time: CD 1: 56:08, CD 2: 63:15 Country: France Released: 1997 Related Artists: Luc Ferrari, Bernard Parmegiani, Pierre Schaeffer More: Electro CD, Forced Exposure, Official, Wikipedia