In den nächsten Tagen erscheint die neue CD des französischen Elektroakustikers Philippe Petit. “A Reassuring Elsewhere, Chapter 1″ ist der erste Teil einer geplanten Trilogie, die sich in vielfältiger Weise dem Thema eskapistischer Heterotopien in Zeiten des Zusammenbruchs widmet. Das musikalisch entworfene, in seiner klanglichen Narration oft hörspielartige Anderswo in Petits Arbeit ist durch seine retrofuturistische Form geprägt, die sich nicht zuletzt auch in der Wahl der Klangquellen – Buchla, Piano, Theremin, weitere analoge Synthies – ausdrückt. Das Album erscheint beim jungen Londoner Label Oscillations.
“Time has collapsed in on itself and we live in a world of wreckage, some of which still functions beautifully. The first chapter of Philippe Petit’s trilogy, A Reassuring Elsewhere, is an exercise in what he calls ‘retro-futurism’, where all that was pinned to a particular moment is brought forward in a novel way, clocks be damned. But all this messing with time has a playful, joyous dimension. As Petit describes ‘A Reassuring Elsewhere is a trilogy that takes us through a looking glass in hope of reaching a wonderland where we feel reassured because nothing is as it seems…’ Here Petit pairs a Buchla 200 analog synthesizer with a piano (the grand piano at CNRR national Conservatory, no less), and elsewhere, a theremin and an EMS Synthi A nudge up against a prepared piano soundboard, where various objects, including clothes-pegs and materials (cotton, tissues paper, wood, plastic, rubber, metal and fabric) generate a percussive universe that hints at a cosmic order whose meaning might only be discoverable by other beings to come. Improvised and spontaneous, a ragged metallicism expands into a gentle and curious rattle.” (Oscillations)