Jonathan Fitoussi & Clemens Hourrière - Espaces timbrés (2018)

One of the most sensitive sets of ears in Paris, GRM affiliate Jonathan Fitoussi meets Clemens Hourriére for a beautiful 2nd orbit of planet Versatile in Espaces Timbrés. As the sibling shuttle to their acclaimed Five Steps [2015] side, it finds Fitoussi & Hourriére tethered again to the classic Buchla modular synthesiser, but this time with Versatile staple I:Cube on board to lend a fresh set of ears in-the-mix and pon-the-desk with subtly majestic, widescreen results.

It’s worth properly mentioning Fitoussi’s credentials at this point. Beside a string of solo and collaborative releases in the last decade, he’s been pivotal in digitising and transferring from tape the legendary INA GRM catalogue for anthologies of Luc Ferrari, François Bayle and Pierre Schaeffer, not to mention the majority of those invaluable Recollection GRM editions, which is no pedigree to be sniffed at.

On Espaces Timbrés he brings that sound sensitivity to the table opposite longtime spar Clemens Hourriére in a lush, wide-eyed suite of synth music elevated from the norm by the infinitely layered and lucid clarity of their constructions, each underlined by a crafty rhythmic suss. The results thusly and semi-naturally oscillate the club and behind-closed-doors headspaces, scaling from evocative sci-fi panoramas such as White Sands and the very Limerence-like flutter of Labyrinth to pulsating dancefloor bewts like Basalt Columns and the creamy glyde of Cymatics, before really coming into their own within the DMT breath glitter of Euclidean Space and the Pye Corner Audio-like propulsion of Lunar Leap, leading to the glassy helix f Oeil at it’s finale.

This is near immaculate stuff, treading the finest line between classic cliché and genuine wide eyed wonder with trustingly high fidelity production.

Tracklist:
01. Jonathan Fitoussi & Clemens Hourrière - White Sands
02. Jonathan Fitoussi & Clemens Hourrière - Labyrinths
03. Jonathan Fitoussi & Clemens Hourrière - Basalt Columns
04. Jonathan Fitoussi & Clemens Hourrière - Cymatics
05. Jonathan Fitoussi & Clemens Hourrière - Water Mirrors
06. Jonathan Fitoussi & Clemens Hourrière - Euclidean Space
07. Jonathan Fitoussi & Clemens Hourrière - Lunar Leap
08. Jonathan Fitoussi & Clemens Hourrière - Jangal
09. Jonathan Fitoussi & Clemens Hourrière - Ice Tunnel
10. Jonathan Fitoussi & Clemens Hourrière - Oeil