Vis-à-Vis by Passepartout Duo

Combining spellbinding musical rituals, introspective lamentations, and otherworldly ambience, Passepartout Duo’s first full length album Vis-à-Vis is inspired by a spirited year of travels and encounters.

Making use of a portable set of instruments designed and built by the duo out of scrap wood and metal found on the streets of Geneva (in addition to keyboards, synths, and percussion), the group premiered the music during a month-long train journey from Switzerland to China.

The album contains two pieces that spring from material of the same origin, evolving, reshuffling and realigning through the extensive use of hocket techniques and metric modulations. Mirroring one another, the two included tracks fill each side of the LP without pause, conveying a patchwork of prismatic timbres underpinned by a tightly woven rhythmic fabric.

The album is produced by AnyOne, the Chinese art company and record label founded by Yannis Zhang and Yumo Wu. Created from multiple superimposed layers of cut and printed paper, the artwork of the album illustrates the concept of its musical counterpart. Each of the album’s layers can be playfully recombined to highlight new variations in both color and shape, continually revealing a different perspective of the object as it moves from one face to the next.

Vis-à-Vis was written and recorded in Geneva, Shanghai, and Beijing at the Embassy of Foreign Artists, the Swatch Art Peace Hotel, and Semi-Underground Space.

Tracklist

1.	Heartwood (Section 1)	5:22

2.	Heartwood (Section 2)	2:59

3.	Heartwood (Section 3)	5:34

4.	Heartwood (Section 4)	3:44

5.	Vis-à-Vis (Section 1)	3:37

6.	Vis-à-Vis (Section 2)	3:02

7.	Vis-à-Vis (Section 3)	4:37

8.	Vis-à-Vis (Section 4)	6:01

9.	Heartwood (Full Version)	17:39

10.	Vis-à-Vis (Full Version)	17:17

Videos

Credits

released April 10, 2020

Music by Passepartout Duo
Nicoletta Favari & Christopher Salvito

Album produced by AnyOne
Yumo Wu & Yannis Zhang

License