masen jules trio: presence acousmatique

German ambient connaisseur and sound poet Marsen Jules (aka Martin Juhls) is well-known for his releases on City Center Offices, Kompakt, and his own label, Oktaf Records. On stage he often combines his atmospheric soundscapes with live musicians. A steady formation is the Marsen Jules Trio, which features the twin brothers Anwar Alam and Jan-Philipp Alam on piano and violins accompanied by Jules' restrained live-sampling, bowed percussion and singing wine glasses. With their debut album Présence Acousmatique on Oktaf Records, the musicians bring their "acoustic presence" to CD for the first time. It features six highly atmospheric sound sculptures between ambient, avant-garde, classic and modern jazz. Whereas the opening "OEillet Parfait/OEillet Sauvage" is still a variation of a track from Jules' Les Fleurs album, all other tracks are composed for the trio or developed out of the cooperation itself. Two tracks also feature saxophone player Roger Döring (Dictaphone) as a guest musician. The combination of dark soundscapes and saxophone on "Histoire de la nuit" and "Éclipse" makes one think of an ambient version of Bohren & der Club of Gore. The abstract "Excalibur" and "Maison en Vitre" are reminiscent of early avant-garde classic and twelve-tone music, and the closing "Les trains stortent de la gare" is a bittersweet composition for piano and violin held together by sparkling percussion.

Marsen Jules Trio - Présence Acousmatique