Nicolas Bernier – "courant.air"

Label: Ahornfelder
Catalogue Number: AH19
Release Date: 15.12.2010
Format: CD + Digital download
Barcode: 708527881927
Distributed by A-Musik (EU), Plop (JP), Darla (US)

Tracklist:
1. bourrasques électriques
2. déplacement des particules
3. soubresauts
4. petit port bien abrité
5. air.chanson.usure
6. menace, incertitude, le temps se (dé)couvre
7. propulsion
8. érosion (jusqu’à plus oultre)

courant.air is the continuation of a body of work intertwining instrumental and electronic music following the acclaimed 2004-2008 work
les arbres (Mention, Prix Ars Electronica 2009).
The mixture this time is more edgy : a rich and complex electronic sound composition alongside the folk inspired guitar played by Simon
Trottier (member of the extraordinary haunted blues band Timber Timbre). After 2 albums of improvised folktronica with Simon Trottier,
Nicolas Bernier decided to explore that singular mixity further in a formal compositional context. This time, Trottier is interpreting the music
written and scored by Bernier.
Conceptually, the piece is wind powered.
Wind as a constructive/destructive agent.
Wind as an agent of travel (oh! the sailing ships of Jacques Cartier).
Wind as a propulsion engine of particles in constant movement in the air.
Wind as noise.
Wind is sound. Wind and music are Invisible.
courant.air was realized between August 22, 2008 and June 2010 in the composer’s personal studio as well as the Banff Centre. The work was
commissioned by Réseaux (movements 1 and 8) and by New Adventures in Sound Art (2,3 and 7) with financial support for the Canada Council
for the Arts. The movements 4,5 and 6 we’re realized with the support of Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.
«A certain jours, les longues veillées n'étaient troublées que par le fracas des violentes tempêtes. Les plaintes du vent tourbillonnant autour
du phare avaient je ne sais quoi de lugubre. Et cependant, au milieu de ce désarroi de la nature en furie, nous nous sentions en sécurité près
d'un bon feu. Il y avait un certain charme à suivre le déchaînement des éléments.»
- Madame Fafard Lacasse, Côte-Nord du Saint-Laurent, Légendes et récits, 1937

Nicolas Bernier:
Electroacoustic artist, surround sound composer, occasional curator, old typewriter aficionado and sandcastle manufacturer. Careless about
aesthetic tags, Nicolas Bernier navigates trough live electronics, installations and art video, as well as music for dance, theatre and cinema. In
the midst of this eclecticism, his artistic concerns remain constant: the balance between the cerebral and the sensual, and between organic
sound sources and digital processing. His works have been awarded and broadcast in festivals around the world including Prix Ars Electronica
(Austria), AKOUSMA (Canada), MUTEK (Canada), DotMov Festival (Japan) and Transmediale (Germany). He his the founder of the sound art
microorganism Ekumen.