It has been demonstrated that the purest form of improvisation is often associated with instrumentalists who have retained their original poetics of integrity, thereby creating a resplendent anarchy of non-styles. Such performers have typically followed this course throughout highly individual histories, ultimately resisting the allure of the "avant" establishment. An exemplary embodiment of this spirit is Fou Records, a label that has released a wide array of off-center works. Notably, the French term "fou" translates to "crazy", but its true essence is more accurately juxtaposed to the notion of repelling the pressures of trends and "suggested aesthetics", at the same time embracing various types of sonic unorthodoxy.

Accordingly, Trente-Cinq Minutes & Vingt-Trois Secondes presents a series of visions, allusions, Pindaric flights, and ethereal suspensions that emerge from the modified morphology of Daunik Lazro's kaléidophone tenor (yes) and Jean-Marc Foussat's mécanism instinctif et résonnant (that's right). The album is subdivided into three tracks, each bearing a title that corresponds to the total duration of the piece. The music's metaphysical nature, principally identified by misshapen milieus and repetitive resonances enhanced by delay systems, does not overshadow the presence of other sensory elements. In several sections, someone may even achieve a state of anticipatory alertness, waiting for phenomena that remain semi-distinct until they metamorphose into rational incomprehensibility.

The electroacoustic outputs of these two mavericks rewardingly intertwine, at times subtly exchanging their unique characteristics to (benevolently) deceive the auditory equipment of listeners enthralled in timbral maelstroms and quasi-psychedelic atmospheres. At certain points, Foussat accompanies his spontaneous creations with psychedelic yet artfully positioned vocalizations, setting them against the backdrop of anti-logic principles. Initially, the absence of a conventional structure might perplex the most skeptical audiences slightly. However, as the whole progresses, the aural experience becomes instrumental in facilitating the replenishment of oxygen in the brain, underscoring the importance of therapeutic engagement via uncustomary sonorities.

review by Massimo Ricci
2025-01-21