Soundtracks by eric la casa

Pour moi, tous les CD d’Eric La Casa sont des soundtracks. Tous ceux que j’ai écoutés en tout cas. Sa façon de collecter des sons au plus proche des choses, c’est un zoom. Sa façon de composer à partir de ces sons, c’est un travelling arrière… Mais sur ce Soundtracks là ce n’est pas lui qui invente les images mais trois réalisateurs : Luke Fowler (film A Grammar for Listening Part 2), Christian Jacccard (vidéo A Hemero Phaestos) & Marie-Christine Navarro (« drama » / « rituel théâtral » Ce Pays qui s’appelle Tane).
Je n’ai pas eu l’occasion de voir ne serait-ce que l’une de ces trois créations. Mais j’en ai les B.O. lancée par un grand coup de percussions. S’ensuivent quatre compositions concréto-naturalistes qui regorgent de field recordings que l’on croirait chiffonnés. Un animal bêle, des vents soufflent, des véhicules klaxonnent ou bippent… Plusieurs natures sont comme compressées (oui, à la César... La Casa serait donc un Nouveau Réaliste ?) pour le film de Fowler. Pour la vidéo de Jaccard, les éléments se déchaînent et forment une ligue sonore époustouflante. Pour Ce pays qui s’appelle Tane, la composition est plus musicale. Elle se sert d’enregistrements d’orgue par le compère Guionnet. C’est une autre ambiance, mais tout aussi mystérieuse, et qui vous souffle pareil. Pierre Cécile © Le son du grisli, 2015, http://grisli.canalblog.com/tag/Eric%20La%20Casa

By now it seems that Eric La Casa is someone who is a fixed artist for the Herbal International label. 'Soundtracks' might be his fourth release on this label and as the title suggests these are soundtracks to movies. Three soundtracks to be precise. A film by the ever obscure Luke Fowler, a video by Christian Jaccard and a 'drama' by Marie-Christine Navarro. Apart from three stills, there is nothing to see on this disc. Maybe these films/drama exist somewhere in the digital domain, but I decided to stick to the music and think about that. Of course we know LaCasa from his many works that involve field recordings, and in 'A Hemero Phaestos 2' these might be made in a foundry. In the other pieces it is less obvious, and sometimes I am thinking this has more to do with electronic music than with field recordings. Most likely however it is Eric LaCasa sticking his microphones in very unusual places and taping sounds as they come through odd routes into the heads of his recorders. Sometimes it sounds far away, like a motorway (the first part of 'Polymeres 2' for instance), or (very softy) the sound of fire in the same piece. Jean-Luc Guionnet plays organ in the second part of that piece, but here too La Casa adds a lot of other sounds and (perhaps) processes.  The Luke Fowler film soundtrack might be more to do with street sounds - I have no idea why I assume this, whereas 'A Hemero Phaestos 2' has the most electronic feel to it. There are some interesting combinations at work, quite some mystery as well. One never seems to be fully sure what one is hearing, which I guess works always best for this kind of music; no doubt these are soundtracks to more abstract visual material, and as such these work fine. Frans De Waard, Vital Weekly