Pierre Vasseur - La Loira (Extraits), Lacertae, Transparences, "D'ailleurs" XV Champs Introspectifs (2022)

July 2022; long-in-the-works pairing of both of French Composer Pierre Vasseur's elusive, elaborate mid-80s "Private" Musique Concrète affairs (realized via his own "Free Way Musique" imprint as #848586 [1985), & #868700 [1987], respectively) issued as a single six-panel back-to-back double-disc replica (with requisite inserts and extra "Gatefold" materials) coming in hot at C.P.'s 17th anniversary nexus...

The "Excerpts" of the Concrète-Opera "La Loira" that open up the proceedings here heavily utilize the voices and cadences of Anne Gilbert & Yves Desclozeaux to dizzying effect (recalling the edge-of-insanity intensity of Dieter Kaufmann's "Muse" Gunda König across his MJÖ-label output in spots) cut with uniquely 80s FM Synth interjections. The extended "Lacertae" is a masterclass in gritty low-bit drones & the sorts of era-appropriate rhythmic cut-ups heard on Philippe Ménard & Serge Rustin's "Contes Électroniques" ([CP 219 CD]) before the fried, fizzing digital figures of "Transparences" (commissioned by the Festival de la Côte d'Opale & realized at the U.P.I.C.[Unité Polyagogique d'Information et de Composition] machine invented by Iannis Xenakis) close out the first LP, hinting at the controlled bleep of Bayle's "Érosphere" pieces.

On the second disc, the expansive ""D'ailleurs" - XV Champs Introspectifs" project ("Actes du colloque Musique et handicaps et perspectives de soins" staged at Culture et santé in Lille on the 14th & 15th of November, 1986) opens with a multi-tiers chordal bliss-out worthy of Parmegiani before sliding neatly into a effects-heavy solo Recitatif with subtle foley & Electro-Acoustic touches punctuated by cave-dwelling ambiances & grinding, half-whispered voice-sourced freezes that remind me more of Anne "Manon" Gillis' work than anything from the "Academic" sector. It's a great, enveloping work that hints on Michèle Bokanowski & Arsenije Jovanovic's more film- & theater-aware environments.