Bruno Duplant

Four years after his collaboration with Julien Heraud, Bruno Duplant returns to Nicola Quiriconi’s Dissipatio with a new solo work that borrows elements from alchemical practice to shape its conceptual framework. The athanor is the furnace that distills and purifies matter, the means of attaining the Philosopher’s Stone, but it also symbolizes the inextinguishable fire of artistic creation. It is therefore no surprise to encounter a work of expansive development—over eighty minutes—composed of dense, often impenetrable sonic environments.

Sound is treated as matter in constant, slow evolution: a weave of drones and reverberations that trace a tripartite flow, presented across a double format. A cohesive trajectory that calls for the principles of deep listening in order to be properly engaged with. It unfolds as a subdued horizontal texture that gradually emerges from the opening drones of “Sublimation,” moving through oblique, subtly dissonant phases before arriving at electroacoustic expanses intersected by incursions of strings and brass. The resulting tension and sense of unease evoke atmospheres typical of twentieth-century avant-garde music.

In “Éternité,” everything becomes even more grave, and the persistence of sound approaches the absolute, nearly negating the temporal dimension. Its more than twenty-three minutes establish a monolithic aural space—undoubtedly aligned with the work’s concept, but challenging to experience. Remaining engaged requires a willingness to penetrate a demanding territory entirely focused on its immersive power. It is “Albedo”—a track that alone fills the second disc—that offers the most dynamic and compelling structure, enriched by the rippling textures of Karen Jebane / Golem Mecanique’s Boîte à Bourdons, which modulates the sonic fabric until its final dissolution into silence. An intense journey, but not for everyone.

(This article’s English version was produced with AI-assisted translation)

01/05/2026