SHOW, BOOK & RECORD
“L’Air de la Phonè” cascades into the universe of sound improvisation.
This graphic, sonic, and poetic work is composed of fragmented narratives in the form of comics and abstract drawings, where storytelling comes into contact with the dust of sound.
L’Air de la Phonè offers an offbeat and multipolar account of the process at play in the musical gesture.
Julien Lachal:
Music (Modular synthesis, Saxophones, Percussion, and Brushes), Drawing (Inks, charcoal, watercolors, markers), and Texts.
“ […] Je suis la danse des permutations au creux des cheminées par lesquelles les fumées multiphoniques tordent l’atmosphérique, dans le claquement sourd des colonnes d’air,
Je suis le tourbillon des actes irresponsables au menu du non-choix, la poussière acoustique des gestes accumulés en relations de timbres réciproquement profitables, prise dans l’effet Venturi des héritages techniques,
Je suis le verdict tranchant que les juges implacables, aux doubles têtes de membranes, donnent à entendre,
Je suis le vide dans le tas au fond du gouffre lorsque s’agitent les sismographes du grand rassemblement,
Je suis l’œil de zéphyr empêché, la tornade silencieuse du mercure, l’indication calculée de ce qui se trame entre les surfaces frottées de mes rencontres,
Je suis l’espace des variations provisoires et turbulentes dont l’histoire du soulèvement reste à écrire.
JE SUIS L’AIR DE LA PHONÈ. “
NB : Translation to come…
Extract of the show : L’Air de la Phonè by Julien Lachal, 17 MAYi 2024, in public at L’Instant T (Lyon-Fr), with Ana Benito & Lauriane Rouvillain
MUSICAL PROJECT :
The multi-instrumental music is performed entirely solo, with no post-production additions. Acoustic sources (wind instruments, percussion, shrutibox…) and the electric sounds of the modular synthesizer (oscillators, granular synthesis, radios, filters…) are played simultaneously during the improvisation, excluding any pre-recorded or sampled digital material. The instruments are prepared, meaning their sound bodies undergo temporary mechanical alterations (additions, obstructions, diversions, interferences…)
THE BOOK & RECORD :
The texts freely explore what unfolds specifically in improvisation and more broadly in the musical gesture. Richly illustrated (a large portion of the pages are drawn), the book offers a personal perspective on the experience of “improv” in relation to memory, Western biopolitical schizophrenia, technique, and organology.
Collected in a 308-page book in both color and black & white, the image sequences continually diverge from strict narration—carefully disentangled from an impossible storyline and open to the serendipity of musical improvisation.
Among the 9 improvisations with varied instrumentations, the final track of the album takes the listener into my grandfather’s bodywork workshop.
BOOK AVAILABLE FOR ORDER / DELIVERY (via PayPal or in-person pickup in Lyon)
ALBUM AVAILABLE FOR STREAMING AND DOWNLOAD in standard formats (WAV, MP3…) on Bandcamp.
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE at the OriginalWatts bookstore in Lyon and at Souffle Continu in Paris.
IN DETAIL :
- The audio CD is included with the book (308 pages, black & white and color, 16 x 24 cm format, 700 grams).
- Total duration of the music: 52 minutes
- The book includes a 52-minute audio CD album — 9 tracks
- Features numerous reproductions of ink drawings, washes, pencil and marker illustrations
- Includes many texts with both poetic and analytical character
- ISBN: 979-10-699-8150-8
- Price: €32