Denis Frajerman started out as a composer with the French experimental group Palo Alto at the age of 20, before pursuing his own solo career, which has led him to new music with more classical contemporary resonances. While the common thread running through his compositions is his lifelong collaboration with writer Antoine Volodine, with whom he shares a taste for haunting atmospheres, he has also composed a number of other albums with diverse inspirations, notably Arab and Balkan, in which he has never ceased to explore his passions for literature, sound and orality.
Over the years, Denis Frajerman has surrounded himself with a family of dedicated musicians and artists, whose names are to be found on album after album, some of them opening the door to genuine collaborations, such as Blizzard Sow with poet Guillaume Boppe.
A new collaboration starts today with the album Paysages du Temps. The initial project was a soaring solo composition by Denis, inspired by Pink Floyd, Klaus Schulze, Neu and other Krautrock musicians, on a long, uninterrupted 42-minute track, conceived by successive electronic stacking (drones) on a repetitive base of winds and Tibetan bowls. What was missing was the power of acoustic instruments.
It soon became clear to Denis Frajerman that Loïc Schild‘s metallophones and drums would be ideal for this project, as would Marc Sarrazy‘s piano.
The 42 minutes of Denis Frajerman’s initial project thus became two parts of 21 minutes each. The solo album became a trio, and the Krautrock inspiration behind the project a mere nod in the album’s liner notes.
Paysages du Temps, which Marc Sarrazy likes to call an unidentified musical object, is an album of new music in which Loïc Schild in the first half and Marc Sarrazy in the second half have taken Denis Frajerman’s musical universe and turned it into a unique and original work.
The sound of Paysages du Temps is also marked by the studio recording of Laurent Rochelle, another historic member of the Frajerman musical family, and even more so by his participation in the mixing of the album, Denis Frajerman’s usual preserve.
Finally, another member of Denis Frajerman’s musical universe, Jérémy Chinour, designed the record sleeve inspired by the covers of science-fiction books from the 80s, notably those of the French collection Présence du Futur published by Denoël.
Thoughts Words Action 