Search - Sylvain Chauveau :: S.

This is the long-awaited sixth release for French composer and electro-acoustic producer, Sylvain Chauveau, and his first release for the Type label. Since his 2000 debut Le Livre Noir Du Capitalisme, Chauveau has been a pioneering figure in the world of modern classical/electronic music. This status has seen him inhabit the same creative space as Max Richter, Jóhann Jóhannsson and Ryan Teague, and Type welcomes him to their label and community, beginning with the issue of this brand new mini-album. S. sees Chauveau taking a daring new direction since his last record, moving away from the haunting strings and piano work of his best known works and temporarily stepping into the world of minimal electroacoustics, using the guitar as a focal point. The first track, "Composition 8," probably best illustrates this move with its expertly processed prepared guitar drones, layered together to create a menacing piece of bass-heavy ambience and growling doom, perhaps even comparable to experimental metal pioneers, Earth at their most esoteric. This piece is expertly balanced, however, against the second track, simply titled "P.," in which Chauveau returns momentarily to caressing the ivories, but using the notes (and the space between the notes) to dictate something far more minimal and far more related to the brooding drone of the opening piece. Elsewhere we hear Chauveau's take on glacial digital minimalism with the epic electronic piece "E/R" and more delicate piano experimentations before we are brought to a satisfying and subtle close with the gritty, slow-burning ambience of "A_." All in all, this is possibly the most thoughtful and unusual selection of tracks Chauveau has ever set his name to: give them time and they are sure to reveal their immense depths.