Hem rebut un nou àlbum de música contemporània de Riparian Media, una companyia fundada per Nick Storring l’any 2018, que s’ha especialitzat a donar veu a artistes i collectius dedicats a la música experimental i a l’exploració sonora.

Aquest àlbum, editat pel segell Dame-Music, representa la continuïtat d’una fructífera collaboració amb el Quatuor Bozzini, un conjunt amb el qual Owen Underhill ja havia treballat des de l’enregistrament del seu Trombone Quintet, l’any 1999.

La producció d’Underhill abasta un ampli ventall de textures i colors instrumentals, des d’obres orquestrals i corals fins a música de cambra que transita entre conjunts tradicionals i agrupacions més singulars, amb instruments d’època o formacions xineses.

Cal subratllar la seva dedicació a la promoció de la música contemporània canadenca, fet que el situa com una figura clau dins l’escena musical actual.

Establert a Vancouver, Underhill ha creat un univers sonor que inclou orquestra, veu, cor i una gran varietat de conjunts de cambra, sovint amb instrumentacions poc convencionals que desafien els límits del llenguatge musical.

Songs and Quartets, que reuneix les obres The Retreat, Northern Line—Angel Station, What is our Life? i Land and Water, posa de manifest la seva versatilitat i la seva fascinació per les combinacions inèdites en la música de cambra. La seva escriptura es caracteritza per una densitat vibrant, un colorisme ric i una lírica subtil, qualitats que brillen en cadascuna de les peces d’aquest àlbum. El compositor canadenc aposta pel diàleg creatiu amb els intèrprets, aprofundint en la interpretació i l’expressivitat, fet que converteix aquest àlbum en un autèntic reflex de la seva identitat artística.

«Amb una transició del tot fluïda, vaig arribar a la poesia metafísica del segle disset de Henry Vaughan i Sir Walter Raleigh, en la veu del contratenor Daniel Cabena», explica el compositor.

Les quatre peces que conformen el disc revelen un llenguatge musical que és una trobada elegant i sorprenent de diversos elements. La seva capacitat per reconciliar amb tanta coherència aquesta combinació inusual posa de manifest tant la seva habilitat com la seva imaginació com a creador.

El Quatuor Bozzini, que ja ens havia captivat amb el seu enregistrament anterior (vegeu-ne la ressenya), destaca per una interpretació d’una integritat artística exemplar: sempre fidels a l’essència de les obres, però aportant-hi una mirada pròpia, valenta i profundament reflexiva.

Canadian artist and composer Joane Hetu is out with the album Elle a son mot à dire, and this is a creation that resides smack right in the middle of the experimental and avantgarde universe as far as style and orientation is concerned. In many ways these are compositions that defies genre classification as such, where the approach, orientation and execution is rather more defining than the music itself. Expressive use of vocals is the most defining aspect throughout, from spoken worlds and ethereal floating vocals textures to several variations on more regular singing and on towards more expressive use of the voice for song as well as other vocal displays. With singular as well as plural use of voices and vocals. The music elements tend to be of a minimalist nature, referencing folk music, jazz and classical music to some degree or other. We do get some compositions where the role of the instruments are given more space and room though, with one display of what I’d describe as a more free form variety of jazz and the other, at the very end of the album, which to my mind feature a little bit of a French chanson feel combined with a more relaxed and romantic jazz expression. A production to seek out by those who are fond of music explored as a higher form of art, and then in particular when revolving around expressive minimalism and a more purebred avantgarde expression.

Composer, improviser, and saxophonist Joane Hétu has been a vital figure in Quebec’s experimental music scene since the 1980s. Her latest album, Elle a son mot à dire (She Has Her Say), released with Ensemble SuperMusique, brings together compositions written between 2001 and 2023 in a vivid, genre-defying live performance. In recent interviews with both Hétu and trumpet player Émile Fortin, I had the opportunity to explore the creative process behind this album and their views on improvisation, collaboration, and performance.

The album, recorded live in May 2023, reflects Hétu’s signature blend of notated music, improvisation, and text. Though the pieces weren’t composed under a unified theme, Hétu explains that her fascination with language and expression shapes the project: “I didn’t work from a specific theme, but as the title suggests, I explored words I wanted to bring together in a single concert. It’s a unique performance built around language.”

Several of the album’s works are based on original texts, some of which have been long-held, while others are newly written. Vivante, for example, features Hétu on voice and Michel F Côté on percussion in a free improvisation based on a text from 2005 that had never been performed before. In Mot elle a, the singer’s part is fully composed, while the percussionist improvises within a set of guidelines. Other pieces, like Elle qui est-elle?, feature a hybrid form—composed structures with space for instrumental solos, including trumpet and tuba.

For Hétu, this balance between structure and freedom is essential. She describes herself as drawn to “radical improvisation”—music made without scores or directions, relying purely on listening, interaction, and spontaneity. “Improvising takes less time to prepare than a fully notated piece,” she notes, “but it requires a different kind of attention—grace, intelligence, and musicality in the moment.”

The album was created with Ensemble SuperMusique, a variable-geometry collective Hétu co-directs alongside founding member Danielle Palardy Roger. For this project, the group included seven musicians—instrumentalists and vocalists—whose diverse backgrounds and creative input shaped the sound of the performance. The concert wasn’t just about music; it was a total experience. Costumes, makeup, movement, and staging all played a role in supporting the sonic language of the pieces.

One of the performers, Émile Fortin, a classically trained trumpet player and improviser, spoke enthusiastically about the process. “We had about 18 hours of rehearsal, which is a lot for a single performance,” they shared. “Some of the pieces used small percussion or toys instead of our main instruments. The visual element mattered too—we had specific colours, costumes, and makeup. It all helped us feel that the concert was conceived as a whole.”

Émile’s exploration of new music began in graduate school, when a seminar on Vinko Globokar’s Laboratorium introduced her to performance techniques beyond traditional orchestral methods. Her musical identity developed through free improvisation, acting, movement, and performance art. Today, Émile performs in a variety of contexts, from solo work to ensemble settings, and manages their projects, which are centered on experimental and community-engaged music.

She describes free improvisation not only as a musical approach but as a way of relating to others: “It’s like a social model. Sometimes you instantly connect with the other musicians, sometimes you don’t — but you still have to listen and respond. It teaches you how to be present and relevant, just like in a real conversation.” In improvised settings, silence, restraint, and timing become as important as sound itself.

Hétu shares this deep commitment to listening, both in performance and as a composer. While her compositions often begin with texts and melodies that live in her mind for months or years, she always seeks to preserve space for interpretation and dialogue. One thing that distinguishes her work is the way she writes with performers in mind. Émile emphasised this point: “Joane doesn’t just write for the trumpet—she writes for me. She lets each musician’s personality shape the music.”

For those new to experimental music, both artists encourage live listening. “This music isn’t difficult if you allow yourself to let go,” Hétu said. Émile agreed, highlighting the energy of live interaction as a defining feature: “If you can attend a free improvisation performance, that’s where you’ll feel it—especially the moment when something clicks between the musicians.”

They both recommend the track Vivante as a good starting point. “It’s just voice and percussion, but it swings in a way that’s very immediate,” Émile said. “It almost feels like a song you’d hear on the radio, but with so much freedom.”

Beyond Elle a son mot à dire, Hétu continues to mentor and collaborate across generations, helping keep Montréal’s new music ecosystem vibrant and intergenerational. Meanwhile, Émile carries this ethos forward in their projects, including a wind trio called Williwaw, known for performances that blur the boundaries of instrument, object, and identity.

Together, Hétu and Émile exemplify the power of experimental music to create space for individuality, community, and discovery. In this album, and in their artistic lives, they remind us that sound can speak — even when words fail to convey the full meaning.

For those unaware, born in 1958 in Montréal, where she still lives and works, Joane Hétu is a musician, composer, improviser, conductor, cultural worker and manager.

Winner of the prestigious Freddie Stone Award in 2006 for her involvement in Canadian creation music, Hétu wields her two instruments, voice and alto saxophone, combining the flexibility of one and the urgency of the other in a symbiosis that is uniquely hers. She directs the noise choir Joker, which she founded in 2012 and for which she created, among others, the works Où est-il donc ce rêve? (2014) and Langoureusengagée (2017).

She co-directs the Ensemble SuperMusique (ensemble of 6 to 20 musicians) with Danielle Palardy Roger since 1998 and thus propels the creation and interpretation of graphic scores as well as directional gestures in improvised music to the fore. Ardently passionate about contemporary and improvised music, she has been hosting the Mercredimusics series with Jean Derome and Lori Freedman since 2001.

In recent years, she has composed for the Ensemble SuperMusique, the Bozzini Quartet, the Now Orchestra, Quasar saxophone quartet and Instruments of Happiness. She forms, with Jean Derome, the magical duo Nous perçons les oreilles and she directs the quintet Castor et compagnie which is dedicated to lewd and loving songs.

Her latest release, Elle a son mot à dire, captures Hétu once again leading Ensemble SuperMusique through thirteen of her pieces — most of them new compositions alongside select revisited works from earlier periods.

Continuing to demonstrate her continued resistance to artistic pigeon-holing, moving fluidly between ambient textures and quasi-operatic vocal explorations (amongst others), the new album opens on the enchantingly ambient delights of Elle n’a pas de mot, the fervently captured Mot elle a and the atmospherically-charged Elle n’est pas un animal and then brings us the organic Un idéal, the fluctuating tones of Avoir le motton, and then we get the rhythmic Vivante.

Along next is the spatially effective Lumière and the short but sweet Chant à elle, and these are in turn backed seamlessly by the creatively thought-provoking Jojo dit, the hinged Elle n’est pas un animal, the veritably enrapturing Elle a dit oui, the set rounding out on another atmospheric, animalistic cut Elle a son mot à dire, closing on the languishing beauty within Elle qui est-elle?.

Put out on the circuit via the long standing Avantgarde imprint that is Ambiances Magnetiques on June 27th, 2k25 is Joane Hetu’s Elle a son mot à dire, a new album by the widely recognized Quebec-based saxophonist and vocalist turned composer which has been recorded in collaboration with Ensemble SuperMusique of and in which Hetu has played a pivotal part ever since it came to life back in 1998. The album, presenting a total of 13 pieces both new and revisited over the course of approx. 52 minutes, engages in haunted, tentative and truly ethereal Ambient x Deep Listening Music with the opening piece Elle n’a pas de mot before the subsequent Mot elle a brings forth a powerful and absolutely captivating vocal performance by Sarah Albu who is backed by stripped down and slightly ritualistic percussions surely about to resonate with an audience still fond of mid-90s Björk for a reason or two. Furthermore pieces like Un idéal cater super minimalist rhythm signatures topped by ever thickening repetitive vocal layers whereas the intro sequence of Avoir le motton evokes faint memories of EthioJazz, Vivante serves slightly Industrial-infused Avantgarde x Leftfield Pop based on a captivating, intense Spoken Word performance, Lumière enters a grey area between dreamstate and nocturnal unrest with its fluttering vocals and electronic swells whereas Elle a dit oui ventures off into multi-layered quasi-acappella vocal madness and therefore might be the most suitable score piece for an highly absurd theatrical stage performance, and probably our favorite cut on this album, just to name a few. Quite an interesting a diverse journey, this. Go check!

Joane Hétu ble født i Montréal i Canada i 1958, hvor hun fortsatt bor og arbeider. Hun er musiker, komponist, improvisatør, dirigent og kulturarbeider, Hun bruker sine to instrumenter, vokal og altsaksofon, og «kombinerer fleksibiliteten til det ene og det andres viktighet i en symbiose som er unik for henne», som det står i presseskrivet. Hun dirigerer støykoret JOKER, som hun grunnla i 2012, og som hun blant annet skapte verkene Où est-il donc ce rêve? (2014) og Langoureusengagée (2017) for. Hun har vært meddirigent for Ensemble SuperMusique sammen med Danielle Palardy Roger siden 1998, og hun jobber mye med grafiske partiturer, samt det hun kaller «retningsbestemte gester i improvisert musikk frem i forgrunnen».

Som en dyktig komponist og tekstforfatter har hun samlet over åtti tekster og sanger i sine notatbøker og på innspillinger. På sin nye utgivelse presenterer hun innspillingen av konserten «Elle a son mot à dire», med nye sammensetninger av, så vel kjente som ukjente sanger og reorkestrerte tekster. Her tar musikerne tak i Hétus ord og tar oss med inn i Hétus sin musikalske verden på en original måte.

Her fremfører hun 13 samtidsmusikalske «strekk» sammen med Ensemble SuperMusique, hvor hun selv spiller altsaksofon og leder bandet, sammen med vokalisten Sarah Albu, trompeteren Émilie Fortin, tubaisten Julie Houle, accordionisten Luzio Altobelli, perkusjonisten Noam Bierstone, og Michel F Côté på perkusjon og elektronikk.

Dette er en samling svært varierte låter, hvor deler av ensemblet medvirker for at Hétus skal få fram de ideene hun er ute etter hele vegen. Og vokalisten Sarah Albu har en toneangivende rolle gjennom hele utgivelsen.

Dette er blitt en moderne utgivelse som heller mer mot samtidsmusikken enn den «streite» jazzen. Men gjennomgående er dette spennende og interessant musikk. Og hadde jeg forstått det franske språket, hadde nok dette møtet blitt enda mer spennende. Musikken er variert, det er utmerkede musikere, og kapellmesteren serverer musikk det er vanskelig å sette i bås, men en kunstner som Maja Ratkje dukker av og til opp i bakhodet under lytting, noe som får meg til å lytte på platen mange ganger. Spennende, interessant og, ikke minst, morsomt!