Four veterans of experimental music get together for a sunny studio improvisation.
On a brilliantly sunny mid-December afternoon in 2023, Parisian experimental music veterans, Patrick Müller (trAce Label, Orchestre Inachevé), Thierry Müller (Illitch, Ruth) and Quentin Rollet (
Nurse With Wound,
David Grubbs) convened in the Bastille studio of Paul Collins (P_LAB, Glenn Branca) to make music, to make sound, to raise hell, to record. "Correspondant à une lettre" is the result of that meeting of the minds and fingers.
Patrick, the go-to recording engineer for the Parisian avant-garde scene, was at the dials from behind his droning bank of boutique synthesisers. Younger brother, Thierry, was plugged into his electric guitar and pedals, while also fingering his percussive Microphonic Soundboard. Rollet alternated between blowing sweet sounds into and out of his two saxophones, and teasing more aggressive tones out of his hand-held electronics. Collins kept the conversation going through the polyglotism of his Moogs.
"Correspondant à une lettre" is a distillation of that afternoon's session: at once melodic and noisy, introspective and out there, hot and cold. This recording is a fine example of what improvised music can sound like on a brilliantly sunny, early winter afternoon in Paris in the waning days of the first quarter of the 21st century.
Paul Collins (dactylic synthesis) plays improvised music that draws on a range of styles and energies, from Orff's Schulwerk to No Wave, short wave to ambient. Originally from Toronto, he lives in Paris, where he has played with J.J. Palix, Glenn Branca,
Kasper T. Toeplitz,, Gauchoir, Caandides and P_LAB.
Patrick Müller (born 1954) is a French musician, composer, sound engineer and producer.
Thierry Müller, known for his albums under the name
of
Ilitch, and his hit "Polaroid/Roman/Photo" under the name
of Ruth, creates music mixing, among others, synthesizers and guitar
since the late 1970s.
See also
Ilitch.
Quentin Rollet (born 1974) started playing the alto saxophone at the age of 11 and the sopranino saxophone at 37. After a few years spent unlearning the teaching of the conservatory, he devoted himself solely to free improvisation. This led him to play on record or on stage with groups as varied as
Nurse With Wound, Prohibition, The Red Krayola, Mendelson,
David Grubbs, Herman Dune,
Akosh S. Unit,
Thierry Müller, Rubin Steiner,
eRikm,
Jac Berrocal,
Andrew Liles, Bästard, Ulan Bator,
Costes,
Red,
Melmac, Dragibus, Phoebe Killdeer & The Short Straws,
Jérôme Lorichon,
Charlie O, Dan-Charles Dahan, Zsolt Söres, Pal Toth, Jean-Noël Cognard, Jean-Pierre Barja, Rivkah, Benoît de Villeneuve...... He is a member of
Pointe du Lac, and the co-founder of the labels
Rectangle (with
Noël Akchoté),
reQords and
Bisou Records.
