With Round Sky, Léo Dupleix, joined by Asterales—Jon Heilbron on double bass, Rebecca Lane on quarter-tone flute, and Frederik Rasten on guitars—delivers a deeply contemplative work that continues his journey through just intonation and modern classical forms. Each composition is a different vantage within a landscape of calm, where the harmonic phenomena enabled by just intonation refract through melodies and textures in gentle, luminous arcs, recalling the soft complexity of post-minimalist jazz but rendered here with extraordinary sensitivity.
The opening piece, “Poème d’air,” sets the pulse with a rumbling bass and sustained synthesizer tones, its cycling chord sequences developing patiently over time. Gradually, flute and guitar join the sonic fabric, their voices adding subtle flashes of color to the slowly shifting harmonic landscape. The music’s patient development culminates when the ensemble thins to spotlight melodic patterns exploiting the unique timbres of Lane’s quarter-tone flute, the moment glimmering with ethereal clarity. On the second side, “Ghosts” moves the harpsichord to the foreground, its minimal melody expanding, evolving, and dissolving into clouds of harmonic resonance—a drift reminiscent of recent trends in European new music, yet refreshingly unadorned. Melodic lines stretch across layers of bass, flute, e-bowed guitar, and synthesizer, enveloping the listener in a gentle, swaying harmonic aura, reminiscent more of sound sculpture than narrative composition.
The title track, “Round Sky,” closes the record with spinet arpeggios rising gently from a synthesizer drone, the duo instrumentation—Dupleix and Rasten both sing—imbuing the piece with a quiet sense of springtime emergence. Composed in the countryside, the piece feels deeply rooted in place and season, its structure rigorous yet its emotional effect profoundly intuitive, drawing parallels to the openness of Harold Budd or Andrew Chalk without succumbing to their ambient tropes. Throughout Round Sky, Dupleix and Asterales maintain a tactile presence: each breath, bow, and finger resonates with a careful awareness, crafting music that is minimalist yet wholly human, radiant yet deeply understated. The interplay of acoustic and electronic layers never obscures the physicality of performance, offering listeners an unguarded access to beauty. Round Sky ultimately stands as another landmark in Dupleix’s ongoing dialogue with the principles of just intonation and ensemble performance. It surveys harmonic possibility without ever feeling ponderous, investing each passing minute with patient curiosity, humility, and a genuine love for sound.
