3 out of 5

Label: Un Je-Ne-Sais-Quoi

Produced by: Brice Kartmann (mastered by)

Interesting experimental compositions from Tachycardie (aka Jean-Baptiste Geoffroy) that have pluses and minuses when considering the album’s background.

Before we get there, there’s taking this thing on its merits: Musique Pour Structures Sonores Baschet is a mix of longform sound explorations, often rather hymnal in tone and structurally close to drone, and some arty percussion pieces, which favor sometimes harsh textures over Tachy’s previous UJNSQ efforts in this realm, which are much more rhythmic. The balance is good, though: the organ-sounding drone pieces are warm; the drums cold; the former does a good job of filling space and inviting the listener in; the latter is pretty distancing, if entrancing.

But about halfway through, Structures has seemed to offer its full range of sounds. Interestingly, this makes repeat listens more accessible – you easily get a full grasp of the music – but that comes at the expense of depth, where even the relatively denser drone tracks (like opener Cristal, Cristal Bass, S.A.D. Et Zagreb) feel a bit shallow.

…All of this seeming like the consequence of the conceit: Tachy having composed this album fully on Baschet “sound sculptures.” Knowing this, and looking up the instruments, brings back some depth, imagining the artist drawing sounds out of these concoctions. From an artsy music perspective, I respect this: it’s not purely indulgence, as the music is plenty listenable on its own. But I tend to dislike / discredit when outside research is required to “get” music, and even if the creations are interesting, to a lay listener, most of them produce similar sounds.

Definitely better than most art projects in terms of the music its outputted, but still likely not something to return to too often.