Parking

A commercial parking garage is not usually where you’d want to record. There are people and cars and uncontrollable echoes bouncing off concrete. But this is exactly why the quartet of Jean-Luc Guionnet, Eric La Casa, Philip Samartzis, and Dan Warburton found the idea appealing; to adapt to the building’s odd resonance, to improvise with uncontrollable occurrences. In 2007 the group collaborated in the garage underneath the Cité de la Musique in Paris, with Guionnet on saxophone, Warburton on violin, and La Casa and Samartzis recording. In 2021, during a Covid-19 lockdown, they had to record separately, with Guionnet and La Casa in Paris and Samartzis in Melbourne. The earlier recordings are a collaborative exploration of a completely unpredictable space (see the symphony orchestra suddenly piped into the garage in track two). The latter recordings are quieter and speak to the distance between participants: air vents and refrigerator units rattle and hum in Australia while a saxophone wails into emptiness in France. Though they were recorded 14 years apart, the two pieces complement one another perfectly, showcasing the dynamic breadth of sonic activity in spaces we normally take for granted.
The Best Field recordings February 2024, Matthew Blackwell, bandcamp

Since I never learned to drive cars, I am rarily in parking houses and yet when I am I find these fascinating places. The smell of cars and gasoline, the massive, reverberant space and seeing how quick people want to leave such spaces. It’s this kind of space that is central on the disc ‘Parking’. There are two players of instruments: Jean-Luc Guionnet on saxophone and Dan Warburton on violin and they play improvised music in a parking space; well, two actually in ‘Parking 2’ (i’ll get to that). Two musicians in such a space could be interesting enough but it’s also the way the music is recorded and there we have Eric La Casa and Philip Samartzis as roving reporters. They move around the players capturing the music from various distances and thus allowing for more space; or less. They recorded the first piece in 2007 at the Parking Cité de la Musique in Paris; all clear. There are no cars sounds in either piece and one gets a clear idea of the massive of the space, and the way sound travels; especially Guionnet’s sax travels far and keeps resonating. Towards the end there is some other music coming in; from a car, from outside? I don’t know. At times it is quite a spooky piece, sometimes full of sonic life and sometimes seemingly absent.
‘Parking 2’ is a bit of a mystery. From what I understand the same principle, but recorded in 2021 when public life was restricted, and using two parkings, Parking rue de Maronites in Paris and Victoria Gardens Carpark in Melbourne. I know that’s the city where Samartzis lives but how did recording go in this case. Did he tape his carpark and La Casa his in Paris with the two players? I can only surmise that’s how it went. What Samartzis writes in the booklet, is something I can hear; due to absence of human activity, the other sounds (lights, vents and so on) became more audible. Maybe that’s his part mixed in with the Paris segment of the recording? Overall this piece seems to be working less with the close by/far away thing, and it all stays more or less on the same dynamic level. Also, ‘Parking 2’ seemed to be a more organised piece of music. All of this means both tracks are quite different from each other. I have no preference for one or other, as both deliver quite interesting listening experiences. I suppose this makes you experience carparks quite differently next time.
Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly 1429

Quatre paysagistes s’adonnent, à 14 ans d’intervalle, à une expérimentation sonore dans les sous-sols de la cité de la musique. Ce que l’on désigne par le terme générique d’art sonore n’hésite pas, et ce depuis un siècle, d’élargir nos capacités d’écoute ainsi que d’investir, de complexifier nos rapports entre le son et son lieu. Ce n’est donc pas un hasard si des musiciens comme Eric La Casa, Jean-Luc Guionnet, Philip Samartzis et Dan Warburton se retrouvent dans un espace aussi atypique qu’un parking pour enregistrer deux sessions improvisées et ce, à quatorze années d’intervalle. Ces enregistrements font d’ailleurs partie de la « collection Paris » d’Eric La Casa édité par Swarming depuis 2017.  La première session, qui réunit tout le monde le 7 mai 2007, se déroule dans le parking du parc de la Villette à Paris, et dont les barrières avaient déjà fait l’objet d’un album, Barrières Mobiles, sorti l’année dernière). Le parking, qui se trouve juste en dessous de la Cité de la Musique, fait l’objet des captations sonores directes et sont mises en dialogue avec des instruments comme le violon ou encore le saxophone. Les musiciens n’hésitent pas à exploiter le potentiel acoustique des lieux et de la manière dont les différentes sonorités des instruments investissent l’espace qui, en retour, façonne la qualité acoustique de leurs médiums. 
Le choix d’un parking en dessous de la Cité de la Musique se justifie dans le lien symbolique qui se fait entre une telle expérimentation sonore et un lieu dédié à l’histoire de la musique ; or ce lien se concrétise aussi physiquement quand on entend un des musiciens (Eric La Casa?) demander à un responsable (un vigile?) par téléphone d’« envoyer la musique ». A partir de là s’introduit, dans l’enceinte du parking, une musique symphonique classique (une valse?) qui entre en tension avec celle improvisée, tout en se modelant selon l’espace acoustique si spécifique du parking ; tantôt lointaine en fond tantôt avançant vers le devant de la scène, elle devient un outil efficace pour dessiner les contours de l’environnement physique et sonore des musiciens dont le jeu résonne dans un dialogue ouvert entre le passé et le contemporain de la musique.  La deuxième session d’improvisation est un montage de deux enregistrements qui ont lieu dans deux espaces distincts, à savoir le parking de la rue des Maronites à Paris (20e arrondissement) par Eric La Casa, et celui de Victoria Gardens à Melbourne (Australie), avec Philip Samartzis durant la période du Covid-19. La fréquentation de ces espaces étant arrêtée subitement, le vide qui s’y installe devient plus palpable et devient l’intérêt principal des captations des éléments des infrastructures comme le bruits de néons, des tuyaux de réfrigération ainsi que les guichets de paiement, dont la musicalité souterraine se trouve exacerbée et amplifiée.  On est interpelé, en tant qu’auditeur, par le contraste qui s’y déploie avec la session de 2007, où l’espace acoustique compartimenté du parking change de fonction, passant d’un dispositif spécifique à la matière même de l’enregistrement, le confinement général influant sans surprise sur la manière même de composer et d’improviser. Si, avec Parking 2, le travail minutieux de La Casa et Samartzis permet de suggérer une expérimentation sonore qui travaille avec ces différentes limites imposées, qu’elles relèvent du physique, du social ou de l’administratif, il permet d’éclairer, à travers la mise en parallèle avec la session improvisée qui a lieu pourtant une dizaine d’années auparavant, le façonnement d’un espace par l’usage, par la fréquentation, tout ceci révélé par l’expérience et l’exercice sonore.
Umut Ungan, Pinkushion 11 mars 2024

A new addition to Eric La Casa's investigation of all things sonic. Previously he's offered us beautiful assemblages of sounds from, among other places and things, his apartment, a construction site and a series of urban barricades. Each one of these hid surprise and unexpected nuance. The sets collected here are of two underground parking spaces being activated by a pair of improvisers while two recordists wander, following their ears. Pairs and pairs and pairs. I won't be so gauche as to suggest that one can smell the oil and rubber attendant to such spaces, but having played in a few myself I get a definite sense of familiarity. The long reverberation time and odd dislocation effects, occasional bumps or tinkerings all add to a sense of exploration and open-mindedness. The garages become the defining character, at one point interjecting bits of conversation and blasts of classical music, which sax and violin attempt valiantly to drown out. This creates a palpable tension, at least for me, and I'm very much relieved when it finally ends. A bit of engine noise (of course!) but oddly, no squealing tires. Imitations of warning chimes and wind through enclosed spaces, and notes held long for detailed examination. As stated, there are two different garages represented here. The second recording begins with some sort of mechanical sound over which Guionnet pipes a repeated series of notes, holding the last for several seconds and letting it morph. Either he is moving or one of the recordists are because the timbre shifts ever-so-slightly. In the midst of this we hear a door slam and it's perfect. Mechanical sound returns, possibly an air compressor, and Guionnet continues on, unperturbed. A car outside my house joins in, causing me to think about the connections in my listening. That's what the whole enterprise is about, really.
Jeph Jerman, Squid Ear May 2024

Site specific recordings are endlessly fascinating. Particularly where the location’s unique characteristics shape the compositional process. These particular recordings come from commercially operated car parks, fourteen years apart. There is something about these enclosed concrete spaces – ready made reverb containers that make so much sense. Sounds can bounce around in there and it sounds like we’re deeply submerged within a dream. It’s the work of French saxophonist Jean-Luc Guionnet, British violinist and composer Dan Warburton, French sound artist Eric La Casa and Australian sound artist Philip Samartzis. Interesting the trio, minus Samartzis had previously released another site specific improvisatory work, Métro Pré Saint-Gervais in 2002, which saw them set up in the Paris metro station during the last two hours of service. Here they’ve found themselves in the heady days of 2007 in a parking garage located at the edge of Parc de la Villette, beneath the Cité de la Musique, in Paris. Whilst Guionnet and Warburton sparsely improvised on their instruments, La Casa and Samartzis recorded. No one seems particularly interested in musicality, dynamics or tempo, rather the duo go to pains to emphasise their interaction with their environment, utilising distance and space. There are scratches, scrapes, crashes the sounds of heavily reverberated dragging and extended techniques on their instruments. The saxophone in particular can sound like its coming from a whole different floor away, and seems to gather reverberations as it approaches. It’s immense and beautiful, with very little attack. That’s until there’s so much attack that it feels positively percussive. This instrument in particular feels coloured by the environment. It’s a work that blurs the boundaries between site specific improvisation and sound art due to their explicit desire to use the natural resonances of the garage. The second pieces were recorded during lockdown and are a little more difficult to determine what exactly is going on. They retain the same desire of the first pieces to negotiate an interaction between the underground concrete environment and the musical. They were recorded during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic at the Parking rue de Maronites, Paris, and Victoria gardens car park, Melbourne. Without Warburton’s violin these pieces feel sparser, though perhaps to compensate there are more non instrumental sounds, such as the whirr of electronics, birds and car sounds. There’s also more repetition from Guionnet. As I listen I repeatedly have to turn down the music just to check where the sounds are coming from, a plane noise (mine), or a car reversing (mine), piped classical music (them), car door slamming (them), dripping water (them) and it all just coalesces into a fascinating ear opening sonic experience. Their musical environment and recording techniques have clearly affected their sounds to the point where its like another instrument, while my listening environment, speaker configuration, volume dial, and open window affected my listening experience. That’s the beauty of this kind of deep listening experience it can never be the same twice.
Bob Baker Fish, Cyclic Defrost July 14 2024