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blogue@press-6426
press@6426
Intéressé par la guitare dès son plus jeune âge, Pierre Alexandre Tremblay, s’intéresse ensuite à la basse et la composition. Il obtient d’abord en 1998 un baccalauréat en composition de l’Université de Montréal puis, après plusieurs rencontres marquantes ainsi que de multiples expériences scéniques, un doctorat en compositon électroacoustique l’Université de Birmingham en 2005. Il enseigne depuis la composition à l’Université de Huddersfield au Royaume-Uni et continue ses expérimentations sonores inspirées dont le présent album est un exemple envoûtant.
blogue@press-6367
press@6367
Imagine an abstract painter working long hours to refine the tensions and balances of colour and composition of a work only to then have the gallery exhibit it behind a pane of tinted glass. A similar technological restriction for artists in the realm of electroacoustic music has been lifted by Québec’s Empreintes Digitales label. Since 2005, select releases have been mastered to DVD-A, including recent works by Darren Copeland, Marcelle Deschênes and Pierre Alexandre Tremblay. The DVD-A discs offer stereo or Surround 5.1 mixes in 96khz/24 bit sound for dedicated players, higher quality stereo mixes for regular DVD players, and even high-end MP3 mixes for your walkabout electroacoustic needs. For an art form whose main ethos is the meticulous treatment of sound, this increased transparency of delivery removes the tinted glass between artist and listener.
blogue@press-6319
press@6319
Le bassiste et directeur artistique du groupe de jazz contemporain [iks] est aussi connu des amateurs de musique électroacoustique, qui ont pu entendre ses œuvres à quelques occasions dans le cadre des concerts organisés par Réseaux. Ceux qui connaissent [iks] savent que le groupe ratisse large, et c’est le cas aussi pour Pierre Alexandre Tremblay, dont les œuvres regroupées sur cette première monographie (en DVD audio) ont un petit côté nettement plus «heavy» que la moyenne des productions électroacoustiques (ce n’est pas un reproche!), incluant même une participation du rapper Dice B.
blogue@press-6267
press@6267
[Translation] The processing of instrumental sources enables a true deconstruction of the materials resulting in a myriad shards spread along the acoustic space. Subsequent layers of processed or electronic sounds are added, increasing the abstract nature of the landscape portrayed if the narrative intention — wholly permeating the result — brings in a complex framework quite distanced from electroacoustic traditions. The concrete elements are similarly displayed in an original fashion, transforming them into daring linguistic aspects by bending the materials so as to fit them into the expressive forms.
El procesado de fuentes instrumentales permite deconstruir los materiales en una miriada de fragmentos y distribuirlos por el espacio acústico. Se añaden capas sucesivas de sonidos electrónicos o procesados, aumentando el carácter abstracto del paisaje representado si bien la intención narrativa — que permea el conjunto — confiere un marco complejo alejado de tradiciones electroacústicas. Los elementos concretos también se despliegan de forma original, convirtiéndose en atrevidos elementos lingüísticos al ser moldeados de forma que encajen en las formas expresivas.
blogue@press-6262
press@6262
The psychological field investigated by Pierre Alexandre Tremblay is often perturbed by offhand extensions of the usual meanings of acoustic events. The tracks of Alter ego present several variables and a few guidelines in which more or less ‘familiar’ sounds, such as Formula One roaring engines or a rapper's performance, are exploited to their full extent but, at the same time, completely modified in their essence. Those sounds, thanks to Tremblay’s studio treatment, behave like small parts of a giant mechanism, yet there is no shortage of emotions in this excellent work; the most involving segments include several tension/release artifices that colour the music with exciting textures and unpredictable relationships. Except for a couple of instances in which vocal utterances determine dramatic — make that ‘traumatic’ — insurgences of nervousness, the large part of this full hour of ultra-variable structures is quite suggestive and it will probably resound sympathetically with the average cognitive predisposition of most listeners, possibly including the less used to this kind of experimentation. As a sort of conclusive signature, the final track (la cloche fêlée) features fabulously reworked/expanded bell shades which eschew the traps of acousmatic commonplace, evoking the ‘spirit of the metal’ as a substantial, engrossing aura that lingers on even after the record is over.
blogue@press-6243
press@6243
DVD-Audio — Advanced Resolution: Stereo (MLP 9624) •• DVD-Video — Advanced Resolution [NTSC, multi-region]: Stereo (4824) •• DVD-ROM: MP3 (320 kbps), AAC (320 kbps) files ••• Mastering: Dominique Bassal