ErikM (Luc Ferrari) & Thomas Lehn

In effect this is a document of an unplanned event. Invited to the 2005 Musique Action Festival in France, ErikM and Concréte pioneer Luc Ferrari were slated to present a set designed around an "open working process” that allowed greater improvisational possibilities for characteristically more inert Concréte compositions. Ferrari’s poor health (he passed away that August) prevented him from attending the festival. In his absence, ErikM employed the audio archive the two had built for the 2004 Angle release Les Archives Sauvees des Eaux and invited analog synthesiser wizard Thomas Lehn to accompany him. The result is a single half-hour piece that stays true to many of Ferrari’s processes of electro-acoustic work, turning real world sources, splintered conversations and abstract sound into impressionist narratives. The play is extremely active and rarely overemphasises specific moments or elements. Provocative use of sudden volume stabs deranges the more naturalistic scenes, while Lehn’s pulsing tones are well integrated into ErikM’s methodology. Even without his immediate participation, Ferrari’s presence is felt in the bones of this work.