Philippe Lamy (France) is an artist combining various art-forms. He’s a painter, but also teaches ‘plastic arts’ at the School of Architecture in Toulouse. He started creating music about ten years ago, “feeling that his paintings and music resonate together”.
His soundscapes indeed resemble paintings: they are incredibly detailed, almost organic, including a wide dynamic range of sounds.
His latest solo album,“SlowFast“, is recently released, following up two recent collaboration projects with well-known Polish artist Pleq.
SlowFast is released on the new Dronarivm label from Russia, which is quickly building a firm reputation with their quality releases of electronic soundscapes.
Dronarivm’s physical releases are alway extremely limited (SlowFast is limited to 75), but can also be obtained digitally through Bandcamp.
The postcard cover shows a man walking through a deserted landscape, “walking across the desert with memories of the sounds where he has come from, of what he has left behind. Crossing the arid landscape, he listens to those sound images, he is haunted by them, he superimposes them on the present and brings them with him toward the future he is making for. Step by step, he uses this confrontation to reinterpret his memories and to finally attempt to grasp the music of the desert.”
I can assure you: that’s exactly how the music sounds.
Philippe Lamy – Bloud
Pleq + Philippe Lamy – Momentum
Considering the way they both create their music, it was inevitable that Pleq (Bartosz Dsziadosz) and Philippe Lamy eventually would come to work together.
They obviously share their musical vision, and they have the same focus on creating spacious yet incredibly detailed landscapes of sound.
“Momentum“ seamlessly blends both artists’ way of constructing “immersive worlds from microsounds, noise fields, glitches, mutated drones and field recordings”.
Like “SlowFast“ mentioned before, “Momentum“ takes the listener to imaginary landscapes, far far away, with tracks taking the time to develop in full.
Immersive as they are, this is never “just” droning….there’s alway a lot going on, showing enough details to keep your full attention.
The album is completed with three remixes by Mise_En_Scene, Yukimito Hamasaki and Machinefabriek, respectively. (Considering the way they work and how prolific they both are, I wonder when we will see a full collaboration between Pleq and Machinefabriek)
Pleq + Philippe Lamy – Dropping Waves
Pleq + Philippe Lamy – Split
And to conclude this impressive batch this little gem should also be mentioned:
The successful Pleq / Lamy collaboration is continued with two long tracks on this first edition of Dronarivm’s “32” series: a cassette with (about) 32 minutes of music released in a limited physical edition of 32 (but also available as a digital download).
“This original dialogue between the modern ambient musicians attempts to emphasize their individuality and find common ground.”
With this particular start of the series, the standard is set high. So keep an eye on Dronarivm in the near future!