Time alone. The thrashing skulls in Pantera wanted only five minutes of that precious commodity; London-based French composer and pianist Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch got two weeks-worth. Her solitary fortnight — at a composer’s retreat in Aldeburgh, Suffolk in the spring of 2017 — was spent in solo costal walks by day and solo piano hours by night. The introspective pause from the city bustle grew into a decidedly non-thrash sophomore album, Époques, a stunning follow up to 2015’s Like Water Through Sand, both released by FatCat’s post-classical imprint 130701.
Époques is rich in reverb and resonance, sublime in the language its piano articulates, limned beautifully by orchestral and electronic ambience, and all with nary a blast-beat in sight. Lead track “Bleuets” indeed seems the product of a solitary period, as space away from others opens space within self, an echo in the spaces of the soul. It encapsulates Levienaise-Farrouch both as composer and performer: melodic, graceful, eloquent, compelling.
Like good thrash, the track finds a balance between virtuosity and emotion. Though considerable, Levienaise-Farrouch’s technical skills are way past chops, prompting a cathartic listening experience lasting (in this case) nearly five minutes alone. Époques releases July 13.
Époques tracklisting:
01. Martello
02. The Only Water
03. Redux
04. Overflow
05. Fracture points
06. Bleuets
07. Ultramarine
08. Epoques
09. A Trace Of Salt
10. Morphee