Nicolas Bernier makes music to get close to. His first official CD is called Les arbres (arbres meaning «The Trees») and it’s one of the most exquisitely composed pieces of electroacoustic music we’ve ever released. Bernier has a sound world of his own at his disposal (we’ve heard a glimpse of that with his delicious Ail et l’eau faille EP) & we feel more than lucky to be able to share it with you starting right now.
Sonic landscapes and slow textures meet with precise articulations, all this resting on a minimal orchestration made of guitars, brass instruments, vibes, accordions and strings. In short: a stimulating record, a remarkable attention to detail and excellent production quality, making for an unfailingly rewarding listening experience.
Les arbres is also a remarkable visual project. The CD comes packaged in a lovingly assembled sleeve containing six exclusive postcard-format illustrations by Urban9. Let’s put it another way, you don’t have any excuses not to get this disc.
Un disque qui laissera très certainement des traces à tout ceux qui auront le bonheur d’y laisser traîner une oreille. Passionné et passionnant.
Simon , Goûte mes disques (Belgium)
… a perfect integration of sinuous emotional trajectories…
Aurelio Cianciotta, Neural (Italy)
… Les arbres est parfait de bout en bout…
Fabrice Allard, EtherREAL (France)
The images and sounds of Les arbres […] encapsulates its audience in a nostalgic, discreetly melancholic and romantic emotional bubble.
Tobias Fischer, Tokafi (Germany)
I am left with little doubt that Nicolas is fast developing into one of the most important producers/artists around today.
Ian Hawgood, bodyspace.net (Portugal)
… l’ensemble est sûrement trop bien pensé et orchestré pour y avoir quoi que ce soit à redire.
Simon , Goûte mes disques (Belgium)
Nicolas Bernier has been initiated to musical creation through popular music. His curiosity quickly brought him to electroacoustic composition. His love of experimentation inspired him to develop acousmatic composition, live electronics, installation, art video as well as music for dance, theater and cinema. In the midst of this eclecticism, his artistic concerns remain constant: the balance between the cerebral and the sensual and between organic sound sources and digital processing. Multiplying collaboration, his work has been heared with choregrapher Ginette Laurin, director Denis Marleau, musician Delphine Measroch, guitar player Simon Trottier, sound artists Alexis Bellavance, Érick d’Orion, Hélène Prévost, Jacques Poulin-Denis and many more involved in different artistic spheres. In 2006 he created Ekumen, a microorganism dedicated to the dissemination of sound art. In 2008, he took the art direction of the electroacoustic concert producer Réseaux des arts médiatiques. He has won many awards for his works that have been broadcast in festivals from around the world such as Akousma (Québec), Mutek (Québec), DotMov Festival (Japan) et Transmediale (Germany). → Full bio
June 18, 2008
weird. a couple people told us they have a hard time downloading using the “Full album (zip)” link. does that happen to you too? then please let me know what’s up: dt@electrocd.com. tell me what platform (mac or windows) you’re using, & what unzip software too, that’ll be helpful. your feedback is appreciated! → Continued…
May 15, 2008
there’s a notypian tradition that has us participate every year to montreal’s own suoni per il popolo festival, often paired with a friendly label. this year, we’re partying it up with ekumen, & it’s happening june 11 at casa del popolo. → Continued…
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Wednesday, March 3, 2010. Development & maintenance: DIM.