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Review · Peter Margasak, Bandcamp DailyL’Ombre du PontElsa Justel
Peter Margasak, Bandcamp Daily

“On this new collection of work spanning 1995-2021 veteran Argentine electroacoustic composer Elsa Justel reveals a deep engagement with that sonic medium.”

On this new collection of work spanning 1995-2021 veteran Argentine electroacoustic composer Elsa Justel reveals a deep engagement with that sonic medium. Most of these detail-rich works either salute or draw from the work of some of the most important figures from the sprawling world of musique concrète. Opening piece Déjà vu was composed in isolation during the pandemic, which led Justel to revisit some vintage techniques. As she writes in her liner notes, “nothing new, just some wilted materials that keep on reappearing, entwined in a vicious cobweb.” Casi nada repurposes sounds from Luc Ferrari, and L’espace re-figuré 2 does something similar with materials from Annette Vande Gorne. Wessen appropriates elements of work by fellow Argentine composer Beatriz Ferreyra. Other works invoke Bernard Parmegiani, Francis Dhomont, and François Bayle. Despite these allusions and tributes, Justel makes these gestures using her own structural ideas, abstracting previous work into sonic raw material without losing a sense of its origin. On the other hand, Diálogo con Ana is a direct collaboration with pianist Ana Foutel, developed in a back-and-forth process of improvisation, where brittle, prepared piano splatters mesh with crystalline electronic simulations and refractions. All of the works are marked by a hazy narrative thread, as each deeply tactile, evocative section unfolds into some new environment with transitions both unexpected and logical.

Originally published by Peter Margasak, Bandcamp Daily.Read the original article on Peter Margasak, Bandcamp Daily