Pierre-Yves Martel
La Formule Xyz
2011 release ** No concessions made by the three brooding magicians here to variations in tempo, register, or pitch, and XYZ soon succeeds in wearing down your resistance. Succumb freely to these splendid close-knit wafers of electro-acoustic intensity. It's the 15th publication - out of 24, one for each hour of a day - produced by &records (Michel F. Côté & Fabrizio Gilardino).
Sainct Laurens
2009 release ** The nine pieces are relatively short and in a strange sort of way quite noisy. Strange because the bigger part the music is acoustically made, but with that bit of amplification that makes all the scraping sounds wandering off every now and then in the realms of feedback like sustained sounds, this is certainly not an easy work to access. Its however one, I think, that is quite beautiful. The sustaining sounds produced by what seem to be the main instruments (saxophone and viola …
Hyazo
A new album from the trio who released Tse in 2016, and - along with violinist Angharad Davies - Awire in 2018. Three compositions of quiet and delicate beauty, two by Christoph Schiller, and the title track by Cyril Bondi.Cyril Bondi: Indian harmoniumPierre-Yves Martel: viola da gambaChristoph Schiller: spinet
Awirë
awirë stands as a luminous act of collective listening and minimalism, conceived by Cyril Bondi, Pierre-Yves Martel, and Christoph Schiller - veterans of exploratory small-group improvisation - and further energized by the searching violin of Angharad Davies. The recording merges the intimacy of chamber music with techniques of indeterminacy and radical reduction, using the distinctive timbres of Indian harmonium, viola da gamba, prepared spinet, and violin to weave an uncanny sonic fabric. Bond…
Tse
Tse, a collaboration between Cyril Bondi, Pierre-Yves Martel, and Christoph Schiller, offers five tracks of immersive, slow-burning chamber music at the intersection of composition and improvisation. Using harmonium, viola da gamba, and prepared spinet, the trio develops an original timbral palette - drones, delicate chord changes, and subtle percussive textures unfold through extended forms. Rather than relying on conventional melody or virtuosic gesture, Bondi, Martel, and Schiller favor proce…