30:15" is the latest sound work from S. Mercure. The title refers to the length of the 9-track album. It was elaborated with material from Mercure's personal sound archive: unfinished projects and past/recent experimentations. After spending a great amount of time listening through hundred of samples out of their initial context, a limited number of 20 samples were selected and classified in 6 categories: FORWARD, BACKGROUND, RHYTHM, TEXTURE, AS-IS and SOURCE. 30:15" materialized with the basic idea of creating a written structure for each track before diving into any sort of editing and audio processing. Samples, order, the time at which to use them, as well as their eventual manipulation were all informations declared in advance. This "planning" inevitably created some unpleasant results that had to remain in the final mix in order to stay true to the initial structure. Relying on a methodical concept is recurrent in Mercure's work. Using constraints to dictate the source material and method of work have been observed in past projects.

On January 19, 2019, Archive Officielle presented a private showcase including performances from Charles Barabé, Karl Fousek, s.mercure and Philippe Vandal. This is the official recording of these 4 original performances that took place at Apollo Studios in Montreal. Music by Charles Barabé, Karl Fousek, S.Mercure, Philippe VandalLive recording by Karl Fousek and Pascal DesjardinsMix and mastering by Pascal Desjardins and S.MercureDesign by Marie-France GaudetImages by Eliott LégaréEvent coordination by Lydie Bochatay

HYS is a collaboration between sound artist Giovanni Lami and visual artist Clio Casadei. During the summer of 2018, Lami created a 6 minute and 20 seconds sound piece recorded on-site in a park in Faenza ITALY. Casadei was later approached to create a visual transcription of this audio. Both versions, audio and visual, now hold the same title: HYS. Giovanni Lami’s work revolves around field recordings using reel-to-reel recorders. During a recording session, the ambient sound is captured but also altered by the use of different objects, microphones, and manual interventions. The mechanical sound of the recording device itself is sometimes captured and fed back into the magnetic tape. This well developed approach has been used in his latest series Hysteresis I to IV, released on various international labels.

Wald or "Forest" when translated from German is a project from longtime collaborators Pedro Chambel and Bruno Duplant. The two artists developed a 41-minute track based on a variety of samples taken from their personal collection of found material and field recordings. Evoking nature and wilderness, these samples have been carefully assembled to create a soundscape from which Wald takes form. We witness a meticulous work of sound manipulation, in which the source is carefully modified, so that the final result gives the impression of being familiar and alien at the same time. Inspired by the work of Henry David Thoreau and the environmentalism movement, Wald uses duality to emphasize the questions it wishes to ask: is nature still a space for wildness or has it been tamed? Is nature as we know it today simply a practical opposition to civilisation and urban areas? Can the true essence of nature remain unviolated only if humans are absent? Does nature still exist?

Point of… by Philippe Vandal is a piece of work inspired and conceived from a series of readings dealing with architecture theory, hearing (in the philosophical and scientific sense) and issues surrounding certain principles of perception and listening. These readings are used as starting points. They generate different sound explorations that attempt to illustrate the theories studied under an instinctive and formal approach. Interested in the great italian theaters from the Renaissance and, in particular, the relationship between the spectator and the stage, Vandal proposes a work which tends to encourage the participation of the listener. When one realizes the particularity of the sound landscape, a process of analysis is almost inevitable. This landscape is constantly being defined and redefined, sometimes gradually, sometimes drastically, with elements that seem to test their own limits and possibilities. From this incessant flow of information, the artist presents his understanding of perception versus apperception notions through a generous spectrum of sounds that constantly demand to be recontextualized and re-evaluated: « our perception of the sound of the sea is said to be composed of the sounds of each single wave we hear without being aware of doing so » (ERLMANN on Leibniz). Some passages, in that sense, reveal a trick played on our ear when a time can be observed between the disappearance of an element and the moment the impact of its absence is felt. The opposite is also true. The sounds are re-sampled, re-used and reorganized. Vandal’s approach shows a great attention to detail and a particular attention paid to the relationship between the different elements, the places they occupy and their size hierarchy: « natural scaling hierarchy influences the viewer because it facilitates the process of human cognition. We are able to perceive a complex structure easily by reducing it to a number of distinct levels of scale » (SALINGAROS).

Gibraltar is a collaborative project between Joe McKay and Matthias Urban. Jejunum was produced by collecting sound samples from the two artists’ archives. It includes, among other things, a series of recordings from McKay’s body (stomach, intestines) and WebSDR samples collected over time. These samples were then sent to the other half of the duo to be integrated into the production of the final pieces. Known for his exploratory approach to sound, Urban remains true to himself by using various techniques in the production of Jejunum. Some of these techniques are recurrent in his work: chemically treated tape, PD and MaxMSP programming, contact microphones and ASC reel-to-reel machines. The artist also explores new techniques that feature prominently in Jejunum: feedback & standing wave recordings and acoustic instruments using saxophone mouthpieces and found objects built specifically for this project.

Hymn is the audio companion of the book "Hymnal" by visual artist Jonathan Dankenbring. It was developed by exporting each page as an image. Said images were then imported to a sound program as raw data. These image files are read as basic sound wave patterns and then filtered, expanded, contracted, and arranged into the audio work.

Bur sting brea k’r is the début EP by Montreal's Cloud Circuit. Cloud Circuit is Deanna Radford (poetry) and Jeremy Young (electronics.) The Cloud Circuit Ensemble includes Philippe Vandal (saxophone) and Alexandre St-Onge (bass & laptop.) This project is inspired by the failures of communication technologies as they are tied to human experiences of communication. All efforts are put in place to transport the listener into the grey areas of connection; a space where de-synchronized signals, dropped data packets, repetition and/or deterioration of information is observed. Young develops a magnetic soundscape in which Radford's voice transmits from. Produced using sine wave oscillators and physical interventions on amplified surfaces with saxophone (Vandal) and bass (St-Onge), Bur sting brea k’r evokes the sense that one can hear when the sounds, recognizable and unrecognizable, fall away into particles. Using the soundscape as infrastructure and atmosphere, Radford delivers her poetry guided by the process of deep listening and semi-improvisation. As in live Cloud Circuit performances, her words are spoken in response to sound by Young, Vandal and St-Onge. At the same time, she deconstructs word order so we might question typically intended meanings and better feel the presence of the machines and software which surround us. This demonstrates the ironies that; first, we observe a text deliberately deconstructed by a human to represent the shortcomings of a technology set up to meet an essential and very human need; communication. Second, words sometimes shift from the technical to the emotional as a result of repetition and this process of scattering. Here lies the strength of Cloud Circuit; the ability to create in the listener the desire to re-synchronize disorganized blocks of information and at the same time, accept the tragic end reserved to them. In some ways, Bur sting brea k’r is an invitation to appreciate the failure of our connected world and the void left by it's loss of meaning. -- Deanna Radford: words, deconstructed word events, mouth soundsJeremy Young: sine waves, mouth soundsPhilippe Vandal: saxophone on Side AAlexandre St-Onge: bass, laptop on Side BMixed by Markus LakeMastered by Lawrence EnglishDesigned by Marie-France Gaudet

ISOLATION Studies 1 to 4 are outgrowths of the installation 500hz-245hz-500hzø-246hz from artist S. Mercure (Persona Mercure). Developed over the course of 2016 and 2017, the installation consists of a sound exchange between two speakers positioned face-to-face and uses a frequency of 500 hertz as a starting point. These Studies are the result of experiments using only audio from the installation as a sound source. Sound waves have been modified in amplitude, frequency shifted, and, in some cases, multiplied with the help of certain effects and send channel routings. No additional sounds have been used and any kind of editing as been avoided. -- All sounds and words by S. MercureImages by Lydie BochatayLinguistic revision by Karl Fousek and Louis-Olivier Guérin

Listening to the latent part which is the master of the evident part La natura delle cose ama celarsi (The nature of things loves to hide) is a research path in perpetual becoming started in 2019, through which I investigate the concept of content dispersion as a direct consequence of contemporary media collapse, facing the dynamics of massification and the accumulation of processes of creation and fruition, placed in relation with the inevitable impermanence that unites everything. The poetic imagery and material peculiarities of Pietra Serena - a gray-blue sandstone used extensively in Renaissance Florence - form the backdrop to a multi-media transient fresco, where planning and the randomness of events cohexist, in which process and work overlap until they merge. Stefano De Ponti Work process and landings are visible on:licheni.nubprojectspace.com/stefano-de-ponti/ This is a project created with the contribution of: NUB Project Space within the Licheni projectTempo Reale within the KATE Artistic Residency ProgramCava NardiniArchive OfficielleRadio PapesseLes FAC IMPERMANENZEPerformed at NUB Project Space on June 17, 2021Stefano De Ponti, Pietra Serena powder, chak-pur, burned old tapes, prepared speakers, samples, electronic and field recordings RELAZIONE MINIMAPerformed at NUB Project Space on July 01, 2021Stefano De Ponti, resonant sculptures in Pietra Serena, electronics and field recordings
David Ryan, voice CIMENTOPerformed at Cava Nardini on October 27 2021Stefano De Ponti, breathing, posture, listening and enduranceFrancesco Frosini mixer, resonances and reamp TRANSIENT MOBILESMonophonic listening devices in Pietra Serena for unrepeatable compositionsConceived, imagined and created by Stefano De PontiTechnical support by Giovanni Magaglio and Leonardo RubboliSculpting support by Marco NardiniVoice over by Alessio Chiappelli and Holly Palmer

Two Pieces for a Temporary Connection is the fifth solo release by artist Karl Fousek. Known for his highly technical and minimalist approach to sound, Fousek delivers a work that, although more charged than usual, remains true to his core approach. Discover the sum of three identical oscillators manipulated with precision resulting in what we could only describe as a complex musicality. TPFATC is derived from improvised live performance and rehearsal materials recorded in Boston and Worcester, Massachusetts.

Replacement has been conceived with a small amount of effects and processing techniques. The sound sources are mainly manipulated by pitch based effects such as: pitch shifting, pitch tracking and frequency shifting. Sound movement and space manipulation are done with basic panning methods, reverbs and mono/stereo exploration. A maximum of three sound sources is used on each pieces. Any additionnal sounds or tones audible are the result of manipulations aforementioned.

La Révision is a sound work composed by Charles Barabé.In 2003, the composer recorded a series of sound explorations with the help of an electric guitar equipped with a single string (.046) and modified frets. The context at the time did not allow him to play at high volume, therefore 12 relatively quiet tracks were recorded on a Roland VS-840. Each one of the tracks were finalized in less than 24 hours and then archived on optical discs to be put aside. Nearly 14 years later, Barabé found these recordings. He will use them as a sound source to test different configurations of modular effects. This exercise leads him to reappropriate his own samples and to make, as its title indicates, a revision. By modifying and adding new elements to the original audio source, Barabé creates a work that defends the value of the archive and conservation. La Révision is a methodical work, but also a circumstantial meeting between the past and the present.

Time | Tone composition part I & II are live recordings of two performances by the formation Eventless Plot. This title is referencing the underlying concept of the composition. In practice, the two parts present four notes/tones that alternate and react throughout the duration of the piece. Musicians will react to these fundamental tones creating random combinations and harmonies. The sequence of the notes/tones is interrupted by short dynamic instrumental phrases at the following minutes: 1st ,3rd ,5th ,7th and 9th. If time plays an essential role in these 2 compositions, it is mainly because it follows a graphic and text score. This score serves as a general guideline helping the musicians to achieve a certain level of understanding while leaving to each one of them the freedom to contribute to the final sound as they see fit. Even though Eventless Plot is officially described as a trio, their collaboration with other musicians brings complexity to an already rich sonic landscape. In merging a wide spread of instruments and techniques, from classical to modern, they are able to provoke in the listener a certain state of uncertainty and malleability. That being said, one of the greatest achievements of these two... more -- Composed & Recorded by Eventless Plot (2015-2018)Vasilis Liolios—psaltery (part I), sine tones (part II)Aris Giatas—tuning whistle, sine tones (part I), piano (part II)Yiannis Tsirikoglou—electronics Max/ MSP, tuning whistle (part I), electronics Max/MSP (part II)Angelica Salvi Vasquez—harp (part I & II)Mastered by Yiannis TsirikoglouRelease date : 11/16/2019

Opportunism was recorded off and on approximately between 2019-2021. The album consists of primarily of sounds captured while working in a lab. Bryan is a behavioral neuroscience graduate student at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he studies the neurobiology of fear, anxiety and decision-making. The name of the album is intended to reflect the means in which it was recorded; opportunistically while working or during brief periods of respite in between work. Bryan confiscated a variety of cassette players (all of them broken in one way or another) from the Psychology department storage and began recording sounds while working. Here are some of the found sounds: Track 1: Keyence bz-x800 fluorescence microscopeTrack 2: Nuts and bolts across wood, synth playback through Grass lab audio amplifierTrack 3. Destroying “closed economy” behavioral apparatus in the department loading dock (Haters style)Track 4: Metal junk play in loading dock, recordings of my parent’s garden fountain/conversations we had while I was visiting home.Track 5: Air leak from bike tire on way home from school and office keyboard (followed by synth noise and contact mic)Track 6. Coffee mug against stairwell rail (cassette loop), broken office thermometer and office refrigerator.Track 7: Preparing room for behavioral experiment, 3d printer operating.Track 8: Cassette player feedback and ultrasonic frequencies being picked up from office electronics by cassette player with poor electrical shielding. Manipulated fire alarm from a building fire drill. Minimal synthesizer was later added to the tracks. Manipulation of the source material was purposefully minimal; mainly just panning and EQ work. Some custom Max/MSP was used too. “Conceptually, I view this album as artistic expression of the struggles to obtain work/life balance in graduate school, as well as the intrinsic coupling of science and art—research in general takes a lot of creativity and is not simply rote procedural stuff from what I’ve come to realize over the years. Ultimately, however, it was simply a way for me to blend my two passions in a way that I could afford and to create sounds I like to hear.” - Bryan Schuessler