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CHRISTOPHER BISSONNETTE

Christopher Bissonnette

Pitch, Paper & Foil

    Christopher Bissonnette is a Canadian musician/sound artist/designer living and working in Detroit and Windsor. He has released three full-length albums for Kranky and a collaborative recording with David Wenngren (Library Tapes) on Home Normal.

    Continuing the explorations of the analog synthesizer first revealed on his last album, Bissonnette's deft touch in recording and mixing is a joy to experience. While most contemporary analog synth slingers find themselves unable to not overload the sound-field with the endless array of possibilities the instrument provides, Bissonnette provides a master class in economy and control.

    Since his first full album release, Periphery, ten years ago, Bissonnette has been expanding his aural vocabulary and production techniques incorporating elements of concrete, field recording and modular synthesis.

    This new series of works reflects an evolution of my adeptness with modular synthesis. As with my previous release Essays in Idleness, Pitch, Paper & Foil was constructed from a range of synthesis and compositional techniques. The goal with this album was to form a collection that exhibits more restraint than previous works.

    Modular synthesis can be an unruly medium and taming it in order to produce delicate or subtle tones can be challenging. As with Essays..., I have allowed the artifacts of the process to find their way into the finished product. Tape noise, distortion and by-products of the random sequencing method all contribute to the character of the final recordings.

    TRACK LISTING

    1. Epoch
    2. Diminution
    3. Keeping Guard
    4. Shuttering Slides
    5. Surcease
    6. Textbooks Of The Elites
    7. The Rate Of Delay
    8. Dualism

    Christopher Bissonnette

    Essays In Idleness

      The third album from Canadian composer Christopher Bissonnette sees him expanding his palette by narrowing his sound sources to a self built analog synthesizer.

      Eschewing the whiplash and/or everything including the kitchen sink style of assembly so common among current analog a?cionados, Bissonnette instead applies his signature compositional style of using long held tones and sweeping drones that alternate between, and fuse, pure tonal transcendence and patient, sparkling melodies that slowly reveal themselves.

      “Essays in Idleness was born from a desire for a more tactile approach to sound generation. With a limited number of sound sources, the process encouraged more focused examination of the available range of choices.

      The album is a series of experiments subsequent to a period of deep re?ection on my working process. This sequence of tracks is the culmination of two years of intense exploration with the intention of allowing the medium to have a more profound affect on the outcome, the methodology allowing chance, risk and error to play a greater role.

      Some of the studies focus on a generative process, allowing the composition to build upon itself, while others are constructed from more complex textures and compositional fragments that shift and modulate organically.” - Christopher Bissonnette.


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