Looking for something to spice up that spring cleaning playlist? We’ve got just the trick – Hull-based composer Simone Provencher has just released their debut EP Mesures, and its playful exploration of free jazz and electro-acoustic stands out.

Provencher, the guitarist of Quebec City’s post-punk outfit VICTIME, crafted the EP after their relocation to Gatineau. Their feelings of estrangement unleashed a passion within them to lay the foundations for this project. To enhance what the artist referred to as a “creative conversation”,  Provencher enlisted the percussive stylings of Olivier Fairfield (Fet Nat, Timber Timbre) and the woodwind improvisation of Elyze Venne-Deshaies.

Mesures exists as the outcome of musical trust between the trio, and challenges the listener to embrace new sensations. “Choix multiples” is fittingly named, a landscape of hypnotic patterns and colours. “Et quart,” the latest single from the EP, marries Venne-Deshaies’ curious clarinet with Provencher’s grating feedback, and leads to emotions previously uncharted. 

Mesures awakens the senses from winter’s frost and embraces impulse with open arms. Its confusion serves an intriguing purpose. This avant-garde EP moves the listener through daring acts of dissonance, and proves that Provencher is one to watch in Quebec’s experimental scene.

MESURES

Released via Michel Records on March 26, 2021

1. Choix multiples

2. Mesures

3. Pesée

4. Toutes ces réponses

5. Et quart

6. Repus

Produced by Simone Provencher

Recorded by Simone Provencher, François Mackin and Olivier Fairfield

Mastered by Simon Labelle at DAÏMÔN, Hull

Side A

Clarinet and FX by Elyze Venne-Deshaies

Drums, percussions, and acoustic guitar by Olivier Fairfield

Electric guitar and synths by Simone Provencher

Side B

Clarinet and FX by Elyze Venne-Deshaies

Feedback by Simone Provencher

Album visuals by Camille Bertini

Mesures is now available to stream and purchase – take a listen here!

Simone Provencher

Bandcamp | Soundcloud

Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube

Rebecca Judd is the features editor of Also Cool Mag.

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