3 out of 5

Label: Three:four Records

Produced by: D’incise (mixed by)

D’incise, Cyril Bondi, and Alexis Degrenier, whether working solo or in one of their various duos / trios with other experimental musicians, produce off-to-the-left jazz, funk, noise, pop, and so on. The cross-section of their work as La Tène is not beyond the reach of those different permutations of talents, but it is not a direction I would’ve picked up on, or imagined the three as diving so headfirst into. Because, to simplify, everything else I’ve heard from these three is pleasant; contemplative. It might not always be accessible, but it’s not something someone would outright run away from – you can sort of get the vibe, and most folk are willing to go with it and bob their head, at least for a little while.

I’m setting up La Tène to be something caustic by comparison; it’s not. But they are… antagonistic. Difficult. Drone music is not for everyone, of course (and not always for me!), but there are varieties that I absolutely fall for, and they do tend to be those that have that kind of grating edge to them, leaning more into a noise component. La Tène, meanwhile, fascinate because they’re not that, produced by otherwise pleasant sounds of a Hurdy-Gurdy, Harmonium, steady beat drumming, and supplementary electronics, none of which are outright produced to make you cover your ears. The particular combination, though, while pulling from jazz and traditional folk melodies, make for an unnerving, unending march of lumbering nigh-musicality, with our trio slumping towards Gomorrah, or maybe it is Bethlehem after all; if you interrupt La Tène to ask, I think they’d ignore you, and sweatily keep playing until they find out for themselves.

This approach is mesmerizing, in that best way where the subtlest shift of beat or pitch feels dramatic, and renews a song that, as I think I’ve suggested above, is unclear in its destination. That inherent discomfort is what provides the two main compositions on Vouerca/Fahy with their tension… initially. Because the pursuit of determining the destination eventually, or inevitably, becomes the goal of these songs; as per the bandcamp copy, it is “frenzy until exhaustion.” Meaning each track hits a point before its conclusion where it does feel like its over. It’s hard to pinpoint when that is, but you get a feel for drone/trance, especially when it has those aforementioned gradual shifts, for when a song should approximately end, and La Tène decide to keep going. This is very noticeable on Marche de Fahy, which has actual pauses when the song picks back up on a different track – to the extent that you wonder why they didn’t call it a new song.

And it’s doubly (triply?) noticeable on the CD edition, thanks to the gift of La Thouraz di Sopra, which maybe benefits from being 2/3rds the runtime of the other songs, and is absolutely stirring throughout, though admittedly operating in a much more lively, jaunting pace, allowing its shifts to be more perceivable as sections of the song.

Vouerca/Fahy is nonetheless one of those rare listens that gives me mixed emotions overall, but it’s such a particular experience – and feels very purposefully executed – that I’m happy to go through that relative rollercoaster.