Ensemble 0 – Made To Measure Volume 49: Jojoni

Crammed Discs

Crammed Discs continues its sporadic Made To Measure adventure with the second release of 2023, which is number 49 overall.

The Made To Measure series is fast becoming a sign of quality, with exotic and unexpected releases pushing the boundaries and giving people something to think about as well as listen to. Guitarists Sylvain Chauveau and Joël Merah, along with percussionist Stéphane Garin, conceived Ensemble 0 with a self-imposed rule that the instruments for all the pieces written for the trio should fit into a suitcase so that touring abroad would be a lot easier.

This led to thoughts of low environmental impact touring, using trains and bicycles and playing close to railway stations, and requesting that their audience consider how they too will attend. In our current situation this is such a laudable intention, and that sense of reducing scale and carefully considering their next move feeds well into this latest release.

It took four years to piece the seven sections of Jojoni together, but that was time well spent, refining and expanding the sound of 2013’s Sonando to arrive at an interesting East meets West hybrid. The glockenspiel and metal percussion often take on the tone of temple bells which, when teamed with the languid guitars, gives a really dreamy, distant atmosphere. The seven pieces are variations on a theme that move gently towards a surprising conclusion, taking in cyclical, minimalist guitar chimes, entwining with very simple percussion motifs that repeat and are often at odds tonally with the guitars.

The guitars take in romantic coastal atmospheres and classical-inflected directions, even straying into early morning melancholy, but always changing. The fact that there are two guitarists allows for fresh interactions, while the percussion stays true to a kind of Buddhist mentality, rarely straying from simple but effective repetitive motifs, often injecting the faintest hint of discord causing the listener to pay close attention. In part four, the resonance of the guitar calls to mind an acoustic Slowdive and in part five, the sparse percussion insinuates its simplicity, tipping a nod to Alvin Lucier.

I pick up the feeling of them attempting to merge ancient and modern, East and West, simple and not so simple, a series of clashes that make perfect sense; and just to throw a curve, the final section introduces a drum machine which seriously changes things. The first synthetic element of the album is a really forceful change of gear, almost heading into the minimal techno world. The glockenspiel holds up well in its pure simplicity, and the whole is an unexpected and welcome conclusion, the length allowing for minute variations to become apparent.

Another satisfyingly unexpected addition to the Made To Measure canon proving that, really, if they release it and you are a fan of adventurous music, then everything is essential.

-Mr Olivetti-