Nicolas Bernier and Pur Pasteur - Piano Systeme (Bureau des Frequences)[Neoclassical]
- The Slow Music Movement
- 32 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Nichola Bernier is a busy boy. He's a professor of sonic arts at Montreal University as well as a composer, artist and producer who has even found time to publish a book. As well as releasing and collaborating on fifty albums, he also writes scores for theatre, dance and the visual arts, tours around the world and is fostering ensemble-based electronic music through his Ensemble d’oscillateurs project. I’m feeling tired just writing all that.
Pur Pasteur, known as Nathan Giroux to his family, isn’t quite as busy but is rapidly catching up. He’s a Montreal based pianist with a fascination with taking that age old instrument into electronic realms. When he’s not dreaming up new electroacoustic constructs he too finds time to be a musical educator, and has a nicely evolving Youtube channel to help guide aspiring musicians and composers along the path to musical fulfillment.
Democracy, discourse and the environment might be dying this millennium, but the piano and electronic worlds have been colliding to fine effect, gaining widespread appreciation and a growing audience along the way, and Piano Système is a great addition to the neoclassical canon.
The album is divided into six systems with somewhat straightforward track titles. "Un" immediately sets out the album trajectory - insistently looped, minimalism celebrating piano and a subtle drone announcing the disparate parties before a meaty, cinematic eighties bass synth transports us back forty years. Bernier then sets about the electronic details as Pasteur infuses the vintage sci-fi soundscape with succinct but emotive piano flourishes. "Deux" adopts a lower gravity, more stripped back approach to the guy's fusion mission, piano and synths lightly flirting before Bernier takes control with some lightly throbbing synth lines to better anchor the low gravity piano.
Whispy clouds and sunny, palm fringed islands spring to mind on "Trois", both Berlier and Pasteur caressing rather than pressing their instruments. "Quatre" revives the twentieth century sci-fi vibe with its quivering machines noises, dated pads and pulsing bass notes; a fine bed for the somewhat wistful and contemplative keys. Just as you're sinking deeper into the sofa along comes "cinq"; a chill wind and restless, insistent piano immediately suggest you to sit up straighter - fair warning for the glitching, low frequency throb and suspenseful second half. Now you're fully awake again to enjoy the satellite view of our blue home with the daringly named, "Planete", which opens a sonic parachute to gently guide the listener back through the earth's atmosphere and into more tellurian, modern classical realms.
Playlist Companion
Find the pair in the Slow Neoclassical Playlist.