Frédéric Blondy, Thomas Lehn
obdo

Frédéric Blondy  piano
Thomas Lehn  analogue synthesiser

1.  pooq          12:47
2-4.  obdo       37:00

Recorded Bourogne, Montreuil & Périgueux,  2003 - 2006

       

Reviews

“Thinking of this release as a duet between Frédéric Blondy and Thomas Lehn misses the mark completely.  First there are the mechanics of the session.  Blondy’s piano was routed in to external input of Lehn’s synth, providing sound sources which were manipulated in real time.  At the same time, the input served as control signals that affected the sound synthesis.  All of which was refracted back out for Blondy to respond to.  Of course the technical setup would be of no consequence if the musicians didn’t connect so well.  Both have extensive experience working in this space.  Blondy is part of the group Hubbub, a quintet that turns two-reed, guitar, piano, and drums instrumentation into a setting for nuanced, chamber-like gradations of micro-details.  And Lehn’s list of collaborations is mind-boggling.  But in each case, he manages to inhabit the sound-space of his partners, from the hyper-kinetic Konk Pack to his participation in Mimeo.

Here, the two musicians mine the electro-acoustic palette of their combined instrument.  While the low resonances and ringing sustain of the piano are filtered and fractured, the essence of the acoustic source is always present.  Likewise, Lehn’s scribbled gestures and jagged textures are picked up by Blondy, with crashing chords, rumbling ostinatos, and percussive work inside the piano.  The first piece was assembled by Lehn in the studio from two performances; the second  piece is a live recording.  Both are built around shadings of voicings and gesture along with the careful balance of dynamics and densities.  Calligraphic electronics dart across piano thunder.  Dark chords are turned in on themselves into roaring shards.  Bright, sparely-voiced notes from the upper octaves are dropped against crackles and scratched synth.  Particularly on the more extended length of the live title piece, the improvisation balances sections of spacious calm with heated squall with a thoughtful sense of overall form.  This new label has been putting out a series of strong releases since its launch in late 2007. This is one of their strongest yet.”          - Michael Rosenstein, Signal to Noise

“Obdo’s two pieces derive from performances at French festivals by pianist Frédéric Blondy and analogue synthesiser player Thomas Lehn.  The bulk of ‘pooq’ was recorded in Bourogne in 2006 and subsequently modified in a process of audio editing that enhanced and added emphasis rather than substantially changing the material.   On stage Blondy’s instrument was routed through Lehn’s synthesiser in a way that allowed reciprocal processing and interference to occur.   The outcome might have been wild, even chaotic, but the duo prefer a highly restrained, subtle, even austere approach.   Sparse, precise tones are tinged with reverb or gently swirled through ring modulation.  Their interactive set-up reminds me of a suggestion  by philosopher Michel Serres, in his musings on hosts and parasites, that something new arises only “by the injection of chance into the rule, by the introduction of law at the heart of disorder”.     The longer title track was performed at the Actes Temporaires festival in Périgueux and received only minor adjustments later.  This piece is  far  less like a cautious tightrope walk; the interaction is far more explicitly dramatic.  Blondy works vigorously with the body of the  piano, case and strings as well as keyboard.     And Lehn is more intrusive, agitated and sometimes squally.  The culmination is explosive.”                                                                          
Julian Cowley,  The Wire

“The music is spectacularly spectral, for the most part quiet, yet containing an amazing sense of drama and danger, of underlying nervousness and a feeling of uncertainty as to what is lying around the corner.  I’d advise you to listen to it in complete darkness as – thanks to the excellent recording – every sound, every gesture has an explosive force.  Darkness is the right environment for the mentally dazzling and psychologically grazing effects of a music which tricks and subjugates you, which evokes spirits and causes deep wounds.  Desolate shrill sounds, probably the strings of Blondy’s piano, introduce the first piece pooq, to which are added Lehn’s menacing pulses and strange effects.  There are a few moments of stasis in a trembling grey zone, then afterwards everything changes thanks to the pianistic explorations of the Frenchman with his rich vocabulary of extended techniques.  Accents and note-clusters that are almost Feldmanesque, runs and dissonant cadences like an insistent punctuation to the miraculous work of the synthesiser which measures out and projects long iridescent shadows.  Great, but the best is still to come with the long title track, which draws us into a strange game of mirrors.  Everything is undefined and shifting;  bizarre forms of life seem to materialise out of nothing, at first quietly, then noisily and threateningly, as if coming to reclaim the space of the living.  The synthesiser moves round restlessly, creating obstacles and little traps, while the piano seems to be an almost physical presence intent on dismantling and reassembling everything.  There are moments when the tension rages furiously and everything seems about to collapse, saturating the nerves and emotions of the listener who finds relief only in the final moments of the piece.  A mad and desolate rush towards the void which swallows and destroys everything, leaving us completely dumbstruck.  Spectacular.”            Alfio Castorina, Kathodik

“Thomas Lehn (whom we should remember trained as a pianist) and Frédéric Blondy form a duo of interacting keyboards, wires, strings and filters.   For not only are the piano sounds treated by the synthesiser, but they themselves feed into and affect the synthesis.  The dizzying possibilities of this situation could overwhelm, befuddle or intoxicate the musicians, but happily there’s nothing of that here.   It is a drama of tension, of the play of timbres and spaces opening up landscapes which are diffracted and then shattered by delicate excavations or sudden orchestral squalls.  For the listener this is a passionate journey through lands which rise up and then shift from moment to moment.  On stage too this duo must be quite something.”                                                                        Guillaume Tarche,  Improjazz

“Those who know the work of Frédéric Blondy and Thomas Lehn might expect a meeting of the two to be a kind of free-for-all in which speed is the primary parameter.  But they will be surprised.  In this recording there are no lyrical flights of fancy, nor shows of extravagant dexterity, as if both musicians are keen to avoid being caricatured.  What is unique about this recording is the way in which the piano sounds are fed into the analogue synthesiser in such a way that they are not only manipulated but also themselves interfere with the process of synthesis.    And while certainly active, the musicians let these technical processes play themselves out and be heard.   At times they just listen to the (sometimes minute) transformations that they are effecting upon each other.  We are invited not so much to listen to a dialogue as to explore the interior of a third space, the space of that almost immobile moment when the activity necessary for its survival is found in its deepest recesses.  So this music takes time to build up and accumulate structures, which it then tramples down (though without hotheadedness) that same territory where it has become entrenched.  Nonetheless there is a certain disequilibrium between the two musicians, with Thomas Lehn taking the initiative more as regards the sudden ruptures and other surprises which give life to the duo’s music.  This cd will certainly delight all those like me, who love to be surprised by the richness of a soundworld which is both willed into being and allowed to run its course, and also moved by the musicianship of the playing (whether it is fast and furious or not).”           
Le Quan Ninh, Revue et Corrigée