WEST by Vincent Courtois

VINCENT COURTOIS .CELLO, VOCAL GUIDE
DANIEL ERDMANN .TENOR SAXOPHONE
ROBIN FINCKER .CLARINET, TENOR SAXOPHONE
BENJAMIN MOUSSAY .PIANO, HARPISCHORD, CELESTA, TOY PIANO

All compositions by Vincent Courtois.

“I feel that my music has become more precise, evolving towards an ideal point or place – great spaces, melodic silences, monumental landscapes one can travel on intimate routes, thanks to mysterious hidden maps” comments Vincent Courtois who has kept collaborating with other artists, in various discipines, be it cinema (he composed the original score for Ernest and Célestine, a César winning and Academy Award nominated animation movie), literature (Raymond Carver's America, a musical play starring Pierre Baux) or photography (Intuition, with Michael Ackerman and Christian Caujolle, Rencontres d'Arles 2014).
“Conceiving, writing and orchestrating notes, almost like they were a travel plan, has become the main axis of my work, one that I cannot do without. A recording studio is a place like no other, these musical roads unwind and come alive”. The mythical studio La Buissonne, where Vincent Courtois has been once more invited to work, first solo with the producer and sound engineer Gérard de Haro, then with pianist Benjamin Moussay and saxophonists Daniel Erdmann and Robin Fincker, is the birth place of quite a unique record: “While we recorded and mixed it, the title kept playing in my mind, a single word, WEST, a direction, almost a decision, a resolution; a journey elsewhere, towards the unknown, and a promise of great discoveries” Vincent Courtois adds.
WEST is an important record, a testimony to the uncompromising poetic choices of a musician who has chosen to exile voluntarily, to retreat within himself in order to create great new horizons for his audience.

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"WEST", le prochain opus du violoncelliste Vincent Courtois ne sera pas un projet de soliste ou de groupe comme ses précédents enregistrements pour le label La buissonne ("l'imprévu" et "mediums"), mais un véritable disque de compositeur accompli, assumant pleinement la recherche de la transcription aussi fidèle que possible de son chant intérieur." Pour moi, un morceau de musique montre une direction, se déplace d'un point vers un autre, nous emmène vers un ailleurs. De plus en plus, je ressens ma musique se préciser vers ce point cardinal, une évidence faite d'espace, de silences mélodiques, d'immensités et de lignes intimes tracées sur des cartes mystérieuses et cachées. Inventer, écrire et organiser la route de ces notes est devenu pour moi l'axe principal et indispensable de ma création. Le studio d'enregistrement est le plus bel outil qu'il me soit offert pour la faire se révéler, s'épanouir " Vincent Courtois

Tracklist

1.	So much water so close to home	4:12

2.	1852 mètres plus tard	8:25

3.	Modalités	3:45

4.	Nowhere	4:36

5.	L'Intuition	3:16

6.	West	6:08

7.	Freaks	3:57

8.	Tim au Nohic	3:00

9.	Désarçonné	2:58

10.	Sémaphore	2:42

11.	1852 mètres plus tard (alternate)	4:29

Credits

released April 21, 2015

Recorded september 1, 2, 3, 4 and mixed november 20 and 21, 2014 at Studios La Buissonne by Gérard de Haro assisted by Nicolas Baillard.
Mastering: Nicolas Baillard at Studios La Buissonne.
Piano, harpsichord, celesta, prepared and tuned by Alain Massonneau.
Cover photo: Christophe Urbain.
Artwork: Loïc Vincent.
Produced by Gérard de Haro and RJAL, la Compagnie de l'Imprévu.
Music publishing Moka Music, a division of 22D Music Group.

www.labuissonne.com
www.lacompagniedelimprevu.com

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