ABOUT US

 

 

 

In the duo, Pascal plays his own creation : Rotating mini-platforms consist of small motorized components from inside old Walkmans, used as exciters on different objects acting as vibrators and, when needed, as resonators too: sheets of paper, cardboards, plastic, wooden or metal pieces, polystyrene boxes tubs, and stems connected to cymbals or tumblers.

Christine has also a very personal langage with extended techniques and complex patterns, exploring the microtonal aspects of the saxophone or the high-pitched tone. She produces nifty tonguing tricks, unpitched breaths, spittle-flecked growls, biting, slicing notes or breathy echoey sounds from the bell of her horn.

The mixture of their sounds is unmistakably successful, quite fascinating, and quite an attack on the senses. Their wild improvisation and free play bends in all sorts of directions and most of the times its hard to hear who is doing what. They made sound their own with timbral multiplicity that spontaneously delineate a deeper conception of the acoustic phenomenon.

 

 

 

 

"The music—the sound—bristles and pops with electricity. The pair achieve a sort of visual and tactile response from their sound generation. Their hum and pop roots out a visceral answer, that raises the awareness in sort of 3-dimensional experience." Mark Corroto, All about jazz

 

" Pascal Battus plays rotating surfaces; these consist of small motorised components from inside old Walkmans or cassette players, which are used as exciters on different objects reacting as vibrators and resonators : sheets of paper, cardboards, plastic, wooden, metal, polystyrene pieces, and stems connected to cymbals. The results are small resonant sounds that hover somewhere between percussion and drone.

Alongside Battus, Christine Sehnaoui Abdelnour plays alto sax with such restraint, care and attention to detail that its sounds are hardly there at times. Adopting a range of blowing techniques, she extracts very different tones from the sax but never displays any great exuberance. This is completely fitting, as Battus produces sounds of such delicacy that they would be very easy to drown out. As with many successful improvising duos, Battus and Abdelnour mesh together so well that it can be hard to tell where the boundary between them lies." John Eyles, All about jazz

 

"We hear improvised sax noises and non-musical grinderments emanating from motorised rotating surfaces – always a winning combination in anyone’s book. Lebanese-born Christine Abdelnour sucks unearthly, gritty whimperings from her alto sax, playing with such weightless grace that you can believe her hands never once made contact with brass. Pascal Battus plucks out motors from old portable cassette players, then rubs them whirlingly against common objects made of paper, wood or plastic, creating tones that make you think all the inanimate objects in the world are spending their time whining and complaining, if only we could hear them. Now we can." Sound Projector

 

" This is some hardcore improvised music, and not necessarily from a softer edge. Things buzz at times at an immense volume. These two play some mighty intense music, which requires one full attention. It's not easy music, but one that makes your hair rise up the wrong way. An utter fine work of improvisation. Very intense, very beautiful". FdW, Vital weekly

 

 

LIVE IN PARIS

PASCAL BATTUS BIOGRAPHY

He started out in music as a teenage rock guitarist, then studied percussion (ENM Le Mans et Noisiel) and finally focused on experimental music and improvisation, shaping his instruments to match his own gestures. He now presents a wide range of sound possibilities and experiences, including the surrounded guitar,
acoustic and amplified percussion, acoustic walkman, saz and pick-ups of guitar. He performed all over Europe, Middle-East, Japan, Canada with musicians as diverse as Thierry Madiot, Jean-Luc Guionnet, Thomas Lehn, Martin TÈtreault, Michel Doneda…but also with dancers, visual artists, notably in his duet EYEAR with Kamel Maad (video) and with light artist Christophe Cardoen.

He is developing what he calls Graphones, in which he produces sound and drawing on paper with the same gesture and the Sound Massages : low acoustic sounds sourced in everyday objects and tools are produced close to or directly into the listener’s ears.

In the duo with Christine, he uses Rotating mini-platforms. It consists of small motorised components from inside old Walkmans, used as exciters on different objects acting as vibrators and, when needed, as resonators too: sheets of paper, cardboards, plastic, wooden or metal pieces, polystyrene boxes tubs, and stems connected to cymbals or tumblers.

http://pbattus.free.fr
http://eyear.free.fr
http://soundmassage.free.fr

DISCOGRAPHY