Christophe Bailleau - Villégiature [Annexia]
» Published by trym on Apr 23, 2008
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Label: Annexia
Year: 2007
Format: CD
A series of recent events have led me to become acquainted with Christophe Bailleau, one such might render me inhabile as a reviewer of his music if this was a legal case, but as it is not and also asking if it is not the art of the reviewer or music journalist to write objectively and convey any subjective sentiments openly as such and not present as objective facts. Anyhow, I choose that interpretation, and as such I was privy to a copy of Christophe Bailleau’s exciting Villégiature album and wanted to share my thoughts on this album. It is also high time the scene shifted their eyes to Belgium and the small town of Huy in Wallonia. Here lives Christophe Bailleau, a French librarian and multi-artist working both in video/dvd projects, photography and books and miscellaneous art installations, and of course various music projects, one of which more information will be revealed very soon here at Soundscaping.
This album feels of spring and coming summer, like the first warm and sunny days in a town house out in the country and waking nature. Here are buzzing and shimmering sounds as everything wakes after a long hibernation through the cold season. Track titles include references to butterflies, snails, larvae, burnets (la pimprenelle) and amidst a myriad of sounds weaved by Bailleau, you feel an uplifting atmosphere, something growing underneath. Having been priviliged to hear some of Bailleau’s upcoming music on Fenêtre Records and elsewhere (ed. tee-hee), I can see his heritage from Villégiature, the soundscapes that become enveloping, at times like a wall of sound, some alien and feeling like they do not fit in the overall scheme, but if you just let them they all play together in unison. A recurring, and lovely feature in general in Bailleau’s compositions, and also here in Villégiature, is the use of organ instruments and bells. Reverberating and gaining in momentum, feeding off its own sound, these moments of Bailleau’s compositions are some of my highlights, as heard best on the fourth track Doll Panel and also one of the collaboration tracks Artifices with Sébastian Roux.
Bailleau also shows innovative use of sounds, using both clicks, scrapes and other percussive elements in a minimalist fashion, but also natural found sounds to flavour the album. Added to this comes elements of traditional acoustic elements, long and lingering notes of piano, guitar, flutes, and the likes that in their tranquility speaks volumes of emotions. There is a feeling of something grandiose over how Bailleau manages to make his music appear, particularly in those passages where you as a listener sit in the middle of a rich texture of sounds, completely immersed in a wash and studying as many details as you can fathom. And if not Bailleau’s music on its own was enough, here are also songs that feature Sébastien Roux, Dania Shapes and Mark Templeton. Hence, although we are a year late given Villégiature’s release year, it felt natural to pull this album back out of the collection as it has been playing recently on my own stereo now that spring has hit Oslo. And what better way to enjoy spring than creating a little spring indoor too!