Pinkcourtesyphone – Description of Problem

Richard Chartier – composer, sound artist, designer, LINE label curator – has released over 30 critically acclaimed albums under his own name since 1998, building himself an unrivaled status in the ‘reductionist’ electronic sound art field.

As Pinkcourtesyphone, he has released released music since 2012 with a somewhat different angle – the alias giving him some space for a slightly ‘looser’ approach:

“Pinkcourtesyphone is a more emotional, dare one say musical side of his work.
Pinkcourtesyphone is dark but not arch, with a slight hint of humor.
Pinkcourtesyphone is amorphous, changing, and slipping in and out of consciousness.
Pinkcourtesyphone operates like a syrup-y dream and strives to be both elegant and detached.”

“Description of Problem“ is Pinkcourtesyphone’s fifth full CD album, and though it is presented with the usual relativisation, it will probably haunt you and your dreams for a long time.

The atmosphere is set by Chartier’s soundscapes (which are perfectly mastered by Stefan Betke, a.k.a. Pole). He (Richard Chartier) “monitors the call, offering the sounds of chiffon rustling, the buzzing void of messages never received, and the fey wonder of calculated desire and boredom.”

But the list of vocal collaborators “who join Pinkcourtesyphone’s party line for obsession and revenge musings and ache all down the wires” is what makes this album a definite classic.

Spoken word and musings are contributed by no less than William Basinski, AGF (Antye Greie-Ripatti), Cosey Fanni Tutti (Chris & Cosey, Throbbing Gristle, CTI), Kid Congo Powers (Gun Club, Cramps, Bad Seeds), and Evelina Domnitch.

At times, it’s as if the spirit of Nico hovers around (maybe partially due to the use of German language).
From the very first minutes this album grabs you, and it doesn’t let go until it finished 68 minutes later, loosening its grip with the cinematic string pad chords of “I Wish You Goodbye”, with Evelina Domnitch.

Still, the first thing that may come to mind after that is “I want more … everything … maybe too much”