Joël Fajerman, Jan Yrssen

Racines Synthétiques (“Synthetic Roots”) extends Joël Fajerman’s fascination with the interface between technology and the natural world, here in collaboration with Jan Yrssen. The album’s pieces are built around analogue synthesizers, gentle sequencing and lush string‑machine pads, yet their harmonic language and melodic contours evoke folk tunes, romantic miniatures and library‑music themes rather than cold futurism. It feels like a soundtrack to nature documentaries from an alternate timeline, one where forests hum softly with oscillator drift.

The duo favour short, self‑contained compositions over extended suites, each track establishing a mood quickly and moving on. There is a strong sense of narrative in the way these vignettes are sequenced: brighter, major‑key numbers alternating with more shadowed pieces, electronic timbres thinning out at times to leave just a single voice. The “synthetic roots” of the title play out on multiple levels: as a wry nod to the circuitry involved, but also as a suggestion that our sense of the natural is already thoroughly mediated. It’s a charming, quietly thoughtful set that will appeal as much to fans of early electronic library music as to those who grew up on Fajerman’s best‑known themes.