Victoria News (Canada)
Shock of the New
When thres prominent members of Montréal’s thriving new music/improv scene paid a
rare visit. Victoria last Saturday night, local devotees-all 43 of us—turned out in
full force. Actually, interest in this always challenging, often frustrating and
sometimes downright transcendent genre is building incrementally here, due largely to
the efforts of Open Space music programmers Don Chessa and Ron Rounds, who have
introduced the likes of Toronto’s Forty Fingers and Vancouver’s VIEW Ensemble to local
audiences in search of adventurous sounds.
Saturday’s show reunited alto saxophonist/vocalist Joane Hétu,
percussionist/vocalist Danielle P. Roger and synthesist/vocalist Diane Labrosse as Les
Poules, a name they last used in the mid-’80s. All three are members of the
Ambiances Magnétiques collective, which was set up in 1983 to support,
record and distribute "unclassifiable music by unbreakable musicians". (The slogan
works better in French: musiques inclassables faites par des incassables.)
Almost by definition, "new music" combines composition with improvisation in
ever-shifting proportions, and it’s seldom clear to the audience what is written down
and what is spontaneous. Les Poules’ first set on Saturday had the feel of an extended
improv, but perusal of the notedly non-definitive program notes revealed that it mainly
consisted of Hétu’s work Seule dans Ies chants, which emphasizes its
composer’s remarkable vocalizations.
Only partly sung, at Ieast in the traditional sense, Hétu’s part relied on a
seemingly infinite variety of human sounds from grunts, pants, growls and sighs to
vibrating the lips with a moving finger. Roger’s percussion and, particularly,
Labrosse’s sampler produced such sympathetic sounds that it was often hard to tell
whether we were hearing a voice, a rattling object or an electronic simulacrum.
Sonically, this was all very interesting, but musically it didn’t seem to quite hold
up.
The trio’s second set was more focused. For Labrosse’s Petit traité de
sagessse pratique, the composer largeIy dropped the insect, animal and broken
glass sounds she had been drawing from her sampler in the first set, in favour of
string and organ tones. Hétu’s vocal performance included not only bouts of laughter
and sobbing, but also a fine imitation of Yma Sumac’s Peruvian sun-virgin shtick, while
Roger’s drumming came close’ to keeping steady time and Labrosse’s sampler even flirted
with actual melody once or twice. The piece ended with something that sounded awfully
like a pibroch, the Scottish lament for the dead, with Hétu’s alto sax swirling over
Labrosse’s drone and Roger’s drums roiling underneath.
The last piece, Roger’s Garagognie used a text by poet Claude
Gauvreau, "Howling at the Moon", and the trio certainly took the sentiment to heart.
More energy, more wildness, but a tad more structure would have been nice. In sum, an
interesting show sonically, but short on musical transcendence.
— Ian Cochran, 1 décembre 2000 [10019]
The Martlet (Canada)
Improvisation: Les Poules and the art of listening
My first introduction to Les Poules was a listen to their 90 minute
demo The sounds vrere interesting enough, minute after minute of soft squeaks,
punctuated with metallic rattles in the background, followed by 10 full minutes of what
sounded like four people french kissing. All this intimacy was very frustrating because
I wasn't part of it, and those people didn't seem to need to come up for air. I was
certain I was really supposed to hear something else I turned up the volume {somewhere
past midnight).
And chanced upon one of the six occasional piercing screams packaged in the demo It
was LOUD I had to reassure my considerate neighbour. I wasn't being slaughtered up for
some meal.
By the time I got to see this trio perform, I was pretty psyched. During my last
three days with their music, I had become sexually exasperated, had been accused of all
kinds of things, from sacrifice to suicide, and had been issued a warning by my
landlords for being noisy in a non-sexual activity. I had listened to plenty of music
before, but none of it had actually affected my life. All this interactivity was
fascinating.
At the performance, I sat still for two hours, trying to make out where the various
sounds came from. I was introduced to more oddities the hiss of air on wood, the
humming of two hands. I craned my neck, shifted left and right all night to learn all I
could I worked so hard that I fell out of my chair with an eeeeeeeee ah, thomp. Some
people looked at me and decided I was part of the performance. They started to clap,
then changed their minds. At the end of the night, I had a new bump on my rump. I had
also learnt some things: vocal training on make one person smacking her lips sound like
four people kissing, shaking two zip-lock bags of rivulets can sound musical in a
digibl recording, and sounds become clearer when their sources can be seen.
Les Poules improvises what they call "soundscapes." The Montréal
trio places emphasis on capturing the emotional elements of sounds.
"We're interested in the exploration of the object here. Our sounds can be like
theatrical productions, you don't have the same feeling when you listen to the cd as
you would if you are present. When you see people explore sounds, it's easier to
understand the interaction that's happening," explained Diane Labrosse, vocalist and
sampler player.
This interaction between the listener and musician is the key note in improvised
music. The emphasis placed on this relationship is part of the creative energy present
in improvised sounds. Since the "flesh" of the musical composition is created on the
spot, no one present is prepared for the results of the performance. Improvisation
audiences do not have the luxury of hopping off to the next record store to purchase a
pre-recorded version of the music. The option of singing yourself into the mood for the
concert is not available. All you can do is prep yourself for the unusual and go to the
performance with an open mind.
The members of Les Poules incorporate technology and banal sound
production methods in their "soundscapes." Their choices reflect their creativity,
ranging from the projection of taped sea waves to the simple flapping of a piece of
paper. However, the trio's performances are less about kidnapping an aydience's
concentraffon. Their real focus is on giving something back to their listeners.
"The influence of technology for us is the challenge to make something that is of
interest, something that can create emotions for the listener. These dream images the
sounds give to people is the energy and imagination for listenen to believe in their
own expression," said Danielle Palardy Roger, vocalist and percussionist.
The sounds generated by Les Poules serve as muse for the
appreciator. The trio aim to translate the physical into creative forms of inspiration.
Labrosse believes that the best concerts she attends are the on" that make her want to
make music.
"That's a great feeling. this, wanting to create because of someone else's work,"
said Labrosse. "lt's not important, whether it's our kind of performance, cinema, dance
or theatre. If you are an artist and if you are in the room and the show gives all the
right ingredients to create, then it's perfect for you."
For the trio, becoming source of inspiration involves translating their views into
aural and vocal expressions. This is the essence of their "soundscapes." Labrosse is
quick to elaborate on their musical concept.
"We can pby a bottle, just as a painter would paint a bottle, just as a writer would
write a bottle. Everyone sees the same bottle, but everyone does it differently. We're
not playing about a bottle, we're playing the bottle."
Perfommers see improvisation, a contemporary genre in music, in a multitude of ways.
While the basic concept behind improvised music is the creation of performance material
on the spot, there are practical purposes that limit this idea. Some of these
limitations are obvious: the need for a set duration for live perfommances and a viable
means to organize the sounds.
Les Poules operates within boundaries they deem necessary for
themselves.
Their performances are created in set time frames - , sometimes they introduce the
"mathematics of music" into their creations. This math involves dictating performance
time to only certain members within a set. The members of Les Poules
have been partner in musical improvisation for almost 20 years. However, even their
familiarity and set rules do not guarantee a mind-blowing perfonmance. Roger explains
the mechanics behind their harmonic dissonance.
"Its both the moment and nuances of your partners that counts in a performance. I
know a lot of the things we will do because we've been together so long, but we still
surprise each other. Sometimes the blend is easy and our musical language flows,
sometimes nothing comes out.
Improvisation is the experience of listening to other people, it is a conversation
of sounds you need to blend with the other person. Music is a question of listening
mostly when you improvise. It's more important to listen than to
— Jessica Gin-Jade Chan, 1 décembre 2000 [10020]