Above: Ange Duval, refracting light.
Ange Duval conjures something both fresh and worn, weaving analog tapestries of rhythm, dischord and distortion. Field recordings, rudimentary synth tones and bossa nova machines are contorted into chaotic repetition with a surprise baked in, like in a King Cake. Ange is the latest artist added to the
Northern Sky Festival, happening at Oyster Bay Farm outside of Olympia, Washington, September 6 & 7. Ticket are available
HERE.
But what about Ange Duval? The man puts on a blazer to fool you into thinking he is a 9th grade history teacher only for you to discover with each swift touch of his hand to wood paneled machines that you don't know exactly who he is or what you are hearing. Your eyes wander to the lights as you begin to listen in a different way, cavorting between distant thought and observation of his maneuvers. Lulled by an ascension into a foot tap-able rhythm, for a quick minute you can recall the poem you once spoke only in a dream. It rolls off your lips in slow coils, lingering for nearly no time at all before being smacked back into nothing by the sudden emergence of a clap pedal, ringing in your ears.
The man, whose long fingers bounce between knobs not unlike a water sprite from that cartoon you like, is dabbling with impermanence. He begins to break down the sonic plane and you shift in your seat, readying for something. You try to follow one spot of light traveling across the wall, growing and shrinking upon each surface. It seems to match the cut of tape caught in a loop, but you know moving images tend to sync with music in the mind. This confluence of sound doesn't pretend to know how to tell you what to feel, and you feel that.
In a previous life
Ange Duval played an integral part of
Angelo Spencer et les Hauts Sommits, who have three albums on
K. Here are the most recent:
