KASSEL JAEGER: ARITHW
sedlp073 | Released in 2024 | 600 copies | $30
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AVAILABLE JUNE 2024
ARITHW (A Rift in the Horizon's Wall) was developed during an artist residency at the Epsilon Spires art center based in Brattelboro, VT, USA. During this residency, François J. Bonnet appropriated the space to create original music. Using their 1906 Estey 3-Manual Organ Pipe as his primary source, Bonnet then set about exploring secondary instrumental sources, such as the in house grand piano, but also, and perhaps more importantly, the acoustics of the three-tiered sanctuary of the former historic church (built 1889) that is now Epsilon Spires. ARITHW unfolds like an interstice, a gap between two frames on a flat surface generated by the organ, a surface that shatters to reveal an unclear, ghostly, and elusive space. In this work, Bonnet focuses on more instrumental material, only to subvert it and dilute it further before melting it into an uncertain acoustic space that evokes reminiscences of Erik Satie, Walter Marchetti or even Eliane Radigue, as well as his own previous music and the liminal electroacoustic climates that have been his trademark for many years. A profound work of subtle complexity and suspended tension.
ARITHW (A Rift in the Horizon's Wall) also refers to the vernacular literary mythology of New England, a land, at the same time, still attached to Europe and torn from it. A place that carries the ancient myths and mysteries of the Old-World while being teleported to a totally different land, where a new 'sense of nature' seems to have emerged, a sense never entirely free of ancient, reminiscent nightmares.
The album artwork consists of works by Bonnet, with the first edition accompanied by a limited edition of 70 unique engravings produced by the artist at Brattleboro-based First Proof Press.
The residency and project was made possible by a Jazz & New Music Creation Grant from FACE Foundation, Supporting French-American Cultural Exchange in Education and the Arts.
François J. Bonnet is a Franco-Swiss composer and electroacoustic musician based in Paris. In addition to being the Director of INA GRM), François J. Bonnet is also a writer and theoretician: his books “The Order of Sounds: A Sonorous Archipelago”, “The Infra-World”, and "After Death” are published in English by Urbanomic. He is also the author of the manifesto “The Music to Come”, published by Shelter Press in 2020, and the co-editor of the “SPECTRES” series of publications, a joint project of INA GRM and Shelter Press. As a musician, Bonnet often works under the project name Kassel Jaeger.
He has collaborated with artists such as Oren Ambarchi, Giuseppe Ielasi, Stephan Mathieu, Stephen O’Malley, Jim O’Rourke, Akira Rabelais, James Rushford or Gisèle Vienne.
Kassel Jaeger’s works are a complex balance between concrète experimentalism, ambient noise, and electroacoustic improvisation. He has released several albums on various labels such as Shelter Press, Black Truffle, Editions Mego, Senufo Editions, etc.
While his own music has been played in renowned venues and festivals all over the world, François J. Bonnet has been working closely with groundbreaking composer Eliane Radigue and has been regularly performing her electronic music in concert.