Frise Lumière – Ambo

Tapenade

Frise Lumière is an experimental project from composer Ludovic Gerst that uses just bass guitar in an attempt to explore the rhythmic, textural and percussive possibilities inherent in the instrument. Over the course of nine tracks, he uses broomsticks, mallets and other percussive implements to draw secrets from the body of the instrument, offering up unexpected sounds and feelings.

The sparse notes and clean decay of opener “L’Écume Des Mots” set the scene with a slightly harsh timbre that drops away when the chords start all fuzzy and full. It is a dramatic and rather hypnotic introduction with a surprisingly full sound, repetitive and circular. The reflected melodies have a yearning quality but the mood changes as the album progresses, rarely staying in one place. “Jeziorko” sounds like steel drums with harmonic interference, singing and ringing in a vacuum seal, while “Passo De Dan​ç​a” is more redolent of the East, the bass somehow evoking the passive sound of gongs and a mystical mountain hideaway.

The variations in sound and their peculiar resonances is quite extraordinary, with each track imbuing different sensations from the minimalist “Le Cri Du Vent” to the almost Spanish-sounding flourishes of “p_o__ema”. Here and in “Vibração Corporal”, Ludovic twists the bass into flamenco patterns, the vibrations of the strings adding more tension as the staccato scatters turn in circles. A lot of it is down to the space though. This is music of air and texture, resounding and being allowed to decay, plangent tones interlocking with the more effervescent to create a suite of surprises.

I thought a little about Rothko as an exponent of the bass guitar as solo instrument, but there is little if any intersection with Frise Lumière and that is testament to the ideas and Ludovic’s ability to coax such a myriad of sounds. Ambo is a fine album and well worth investigation.

-Mr Olivetti-