richard garet l'avenir

Housed in an elegant and highly reduced white cover with grey text, Richard Garet once again graces Winds Measure with it’s 12th release, “l’avenir”. This is sound pared down to its barest components, stark and deeply reminiscent (in places) of Bernhard Gunther’s classic Un Peu De Neige Salie more than a decade ago. Garet here majestically represents a new wave of what I have recently dubbed “quietism” that includes artists such as Richard Chartier, Shinkei, Roel Meelkop, Steinbrüchel, Luigi Turra, (could I be cheeky enough to include myself?), and others, who boldly explore ultra-minimalist territory in new and astonishing ways. Taking as it’s theme and influence a fragment of text by po-mo’s token philosophy guru, Jacques Derrida (there is a postcard with the text included here) that locates itself in the unpredictable future. Garet picks up this theme as a conceptual hook, and explores shady reminiscences, glistening fragments of sound that emerge from total silence. These unpredictable moments of activity are what I presume became the fuel that ignited the sound work “l’avenir”. What emerges is perhaps one of the finest examples of quietism that I have heard, as Garet masterfully engenders luscious swathes of warm tonality amongst a thick fog of silence, occasionally peppered with delicate, evanescent activities. The work is carefully crafted, and not unlike his most logical contemporary, Steinbrüchel, Garet also tempers the pace of his work, rendering it almost surreal in places, with the listener eagerly anticipating the next field of activity. Doubtless, you have picked up on my sheer joy at hearing this recording, and my recommendation to listen to “l’avenir” can come no higher than this. I am enthused and entranced.. Go buy!

reviewed by BGN in white line
10-18-2008