Listening to Ariel Kalma, it becomes clear that the 1970s French composer was something of a world traveler. While his 1977 classic Osmose featured synthesizers integrated into the tonalities of the rainforest, Le Temps des Moissons (technically predating Osmose by two years), finds him reflecting on his musical studies during an extended trip to India. Environment has everything to do with what influences Kalma’s music, and he once again proves to be a master at hybridizing modern technology with sounds that predate his existence. My purist instincts usually draw a red flag when it comes to "world music" crossovers (you don’t have to try hard to get me talkin’ smack about Tabla Beat Science), but Kalma maintains his own identity, using the Indian influence in ways similar to John Fahey, ’60s minimalists, and contemporary artists like Matt Valentine.
Although received with great fanfare upon reissue, Osmose was ultimately better in conception than execution; the album now sounds closer to new age than psychedelia or 20th Century art music. But Le Temps des Moissons hits the nail on the head both sonically and through artistic mastery. Taking direct cues from Indian form and aesthetic, Kalma builds pseudo-tamboura drones for his saxophone to solo over. And the term “solo” is to be taken loosely -- Kalma has a strict regiment of modal patters which he always comes back to.
Taking advantage of delays and multitrack recording, simple melodies weave in and out of each other, creating magnificent valleys and crescendos. Only on the album's closer, “Reternelle,” does Kalma remove his ornately short leash, allowing room for just a touch of free jazz sax skronk. Additionally, Kalma warns that he prefers a fairly pure and raw sax tone, which translates to a nasally sounding high-midrange on record. He even recommends adjusting the EQ to your desired liking, maintaining that his tone could be off-putting to some. And while it may be a distraction to most Western ears, Kalma's timbre isn’t so much harsh as it is a reflection of natural Eastern tonalities.
The most interesting parts of Le Temps des Moissons are the bonus tracks, sandwiched between the longer works that make up the album. While the titled songs find Kalma sticking closely to the basic principles of Indian music, he tends to cut loose and experiment more on the extra material. Sounding more like a predecessor to Sunburned Hand of the Man than any Shankar acolyte, these tracks cater to the “strung out on ‘ludes” style of improvisation that's more prevalent in contemporary music. Believe me, I intend that as a compliment. Even a primitive drum machine makes its way into the mix, reminiscent of the sounds on the recent Sun Ra Disco 3000 reissue.
One thing drastically missing from the reissued CD is the locked groove which originally ended side two of the LP. Beta-lactam Ring gives the track a slow, two-minute fade out, and while it sounds nitpicky, the lack of the real ending is indeed a bummer. No, I wouldn’t want to sacrifice the rad bonus tracks (in fact, I want a bonus disc of bonus tracks), but Le Temps des Moissons is one of the rare albums that could conceptually occupy infinite time and space. While the main pieces swell and decay over time, they don’t cater to a beginning, middle, or end in a traditional Western sense, and the locked groove that originally declared the album's finish was without a doubt part of Kalma’s vision for this music. It’s just a tiny (mix tapes) reminder of the shortcomings of the digital medium. That being said, Beta-lactam Ring has spared no expense in their beautiful, gatefold-style LP packaging. Clearly, they still see advantages in a physical product versus the download and have made a package that is as much an art object as it is music. It couldn’t be more appropriate, for Kalma proves himself once again to be an underappreciated visionary, one who deserves a proper archive for his work.
