1/2 by Léo Hoffsaes
Léo Hoffsaes is a Paris-based composer working mainly with electric guitar, string instruments, and field recordings.
On this record for Penultimate Press, Hoffsaes is focused exclusively on electric guitar and ways to record it; blending back and forth the physical sound of a supercardioid mic placed just above the strings with a more distant, colder, raw resonance of the plugged guitar. The sound shifts between these two perspectives and is also à l’image du core motif, a slow, deliberate two-note progression (sometimes three), oscillating and moving through the pieces like weary feet struggling with mud, like the push and pull of 1 and 2 in ½. Hoffsaes also made a trombone piece following a similar system of composition.
The tuning includes intervals that approximate simple harmonic ratios and others that follow non-rational frequency relationships. F2 / Ab2 / Bb2 / Ab3 / B3 / Ab3. This set itself shifts slightly, unresolved. Never quite 1, never quite 2.
Tracklist
| 1. | Temps Libre | 9:00 |
| 2. | 1/2 | 9:15 |
| 3. | 1/2 B | 5:15 |
| 4. | Coups | 1:25 |
| 5. | Fermentation | 15:39 |
Credits
All compositions by Léo Hoffsaes
Léo Hoffsaes - Electric Guitar
Jessica Simon - Trombone
