German ambient-connaisseur and soundpoet Marsen
Jules (aka Martin Juhls) is well known for his releases on City Center
Offices, Kompakt as well as Oktaf. On stage he often combines his
atmospheric soundscapes with live musicians. A steady formation is the
Marsen Jules Trio, which features the twin brothers Anwar Alam and
Jan-Philipp Alam on piano and violins accompanied by Jules´ restrained
live-sampling, bowed percussions
and singing wine glasses. For tours and festivals the Trio already
played in the US as well as in Canada and all over Europe. With their
debut-album „Présence Acousmatique“ on Oktaf Records the musicians bring
their „acoustic presence“ to CD for the first time. It
features six highly atmospheric soundsculptures between ambient,
avantgarde-classic and modern jazz. Whereas the opening „OEillet Parfait
/ OEillet Sauvage“ is still a variation of a track from Jules´ „Les
Fleurs“ album, all other tracks are composed for the Trio or
developed out of the cooperation itself. Two tracks also feature
saxophone player Roger Döring (Dictaphone) as a guest musician. The
combination of dark scapes and saxophone on „Histoire de la nuit“ and
„Éclipse“ makes one think of an ambient version of Bohren und der Club
Ghore. The abstract „Excalibur“ and „Maison en Vitre“ remind of early
avantgarde-classic and twelve-tone music and the closing „Les trains
stortent de la gare“ brings a bittersweet composition for piano and
violin hold together by sparkling
percussions.
Buy this album as CD or digital release directly on
BANDCAMP http://www.oktaf.com/