Dear friends
Covid-19 is dangerously impacting the social-economic category of musicians. No concerts, poor political and social consideration, uncertain earnings. As a consequence, an ever-growing number of musicians, especially those from the experimental area, are trying to promote their music on BandCamp in digital format only. It is increasingly difficult for me to follow and review this incredible flow of music. I therefore decided to open this section on my blog Neuguitars where I propose music in digital format that I consider particularly interesting and worthy of attention. I hope you like it. Let’s support musicians. They need it.
Andrea Aguzzi
Guillaume Gargaud is a French guitarist who specializes in improvised music and composition for contemporary dance and film. He collaborated with veteran pianist Burton Green on 2019’s Chant Records release “Magic Intensity,” and has worked with other artists including Marc Edwards, Stephen Grew, Guy Bettini, Jack Wright, Mike Majkowski and Korvat Auki Ensemble.
17 Compositions by Guillaume Gargaud, New Focus Recordings, 2021 on #neuguitars #blog
▶︎▶︎ Guillaume Gargaud (bandcamp.com)
17 Compositions | Guillaume Gargaud | New Focus Recordings (bandcamp.com)
French composer and guitarist Guillaume Gargaud releases 17 Compositions, a compilation of acoustic guitar works that are framed by pitch and intervallic restrictions. Gargaud has systematically liberated himself from the constraints of his background in a straight ahead jazz vocabulary, while integrating influences from Messiaen to Webern to Cecil Taylor. His intuitive approach to seeking out different sources of inspiration has allowed him to cultivate a uniquely expressive voice.
French guitarist, improviser, and composer Guillaume Gargaud is a restless musician, exploring many different corners of the avant garde and mining them for essential components that he can then integrate into his unique and powerfully expressive musical voice. On his 2011 release, Lost Sounds, we hear music for layered guitars and electronics, painting a maximalist soundscape. On 17 Compositions, Gargaud strips the texture down, presenting an austere twenty seven minute collection of linked works for solo steel string guitar that excavate the space between improvisation and cultivated notated work.
In a sense, 17 Compositions can be understood as an exercise to identify and then codify improvisational tendencies.
Released October 1, 2021
Recorded and mixed during May 2020 at Le Havre Studio, France
NeuGuitars 