I wasn’t previously aware of Canadian composer Joel Lavoie, but i’ve been returning regularly to his album Souvenir. over the last six months. The three parts bring together synths and field recordings; nothing particularly new about that combination but the results are difficult to categorise, though they tend towards the contemplative. Souvenirs intermittent is an ambient-like introduction, deep intoning notes cutting through the imaginary open air, allowed to swell in its second half to an intense dronal zenith. It’s striking, but the second and third parts are yet more impressive. Addendum pulls back to a mysterious combination of movement and stasis, always sounding poised to potentially unleash something enormous. What transpires is better than a mere climax: an extended plateau of majesty that i confess i wish lasted much, much longer than its few minutes — i think i could be borne aloft on beauty like this forevermore. Marche irréfléchie pulls back again, now descending into deeper climes; again its habitat is harmonically limited, but the range of details that emerge and recede within, and its varying dynamic shape, are marvellous to behold. Souvenir. is a superb demonstration of simplicity and complexity working together to create something that sounds almost totally different on each new listening.

Musique synesthétique entre le visuel et le sonore, l’album Firmament de Moshi Moshi est une invitation à l’introspection sensorielle où les perceptions se mêlent et se transforment. Parfois guidées par une voix soul presque shamanique qui s’introduit dans la musique électronique coiffée d’un voile d’effets, les pistes de cet album électro-expérimental naissent de la rencontre des trois artistes multidisciplinaires Charlotte Clermont, Gabrielle Godbout et Émilie Payeur. Le titre, Firmament, rend bien la sensation d’espace infini qui se dégage des nappes sonores alliant noise et sampling qui racontent le chaos de la matière et sa danse dans l’Univers.

As the global reputation, reach, and repertoire of Montréal’s Quatuor Bozzini has grown over the last two decades, one thing that hasn’t changed is the peerless string quartet’s dedication to performing the work of composers from its Canadian homeland. The Serbian-born Ana Sokolović has lived in Québec since 1992, and this collection underlines her unique sensibility, deriving ideas from her engagement with theater, ballet, and folk music. The centerpiece of the album is her three-part Commedia dell’arte, with each three-movement work named for and inspired by different characters of the Italian theatrical tradition. Here, she privileges evocation provided by extended and percussive techniques over traditional structures.

Tortues vapeur (Steamed Turtles) is a digital release from Montréalers Susanna Hood and Martin Tétreault, who really are performance artists more than musicians. The sounds they produce are primarily of electroacoustic provenance. Although the six tracks are given titles, they provide no guidance to their content. Each is an amalgam of noise, rhythms, textures, voice and snippets of previously recorded material, creating a sound-garden to be tilled or left fallow as the listener chooses. So regardless of how this process is described, it’s certainly not for the faint of heart.