Exquise Esquisse — En Suspension
En Suspension is the very welcome return of the French female wall noise project Exquise Esquisse aka Charlotte Thevenin-Nikolić (Naughty, The Girl With The Stanley Knife, and long-term involvement with the French wall noise scene). The release comes as either a C40 or digital download, which features two twenty-minute low-end focused ‘walls’ that are all about tension & moodiness.
The release appears on Stockholm, Sweden's Ominous Recordings. The C40 tape is plain white- with a lable of the projects name on one side. This comes presented in an oversized slip- with double-sided artwork, taking in black typewriter text, ink smeared & line abstract art- with dobbed brown paint colouring on the front cover- a nicely arty & moody look for the release. It has an edition of 30, copies are still available & can be purchased directly here
First up we have the track “L'Abîme”. This ‘wall’ is built around a steady and even bass rumble- which is edged with jittering subtones. The textures here are blended perfectly to create a feeling of taut brooding tension, and one constantly feels it will shift or explode- it does neither of these. The only thing it is possibly doing is fading ever so slightly over its run, but I think this is a trick on the ‘wall’. At points, it’s like you can almost feel the ripples of the bass pressing against your skin. All in all it’s a great track, which perfectly balances bass-bound tension, with a feeling of dread-filled anticipation.
The other track here is “L'Elan”. Here we find a blend of a steadily purring/ slightly judder bass tone- which is been edged by a subtle crisp crackle. For this track, I’m getting images of a cold and cruel-looking robot holding a flame thrower, which is steadily roasting something. There is a really great feel of taut intensity about this track. Once again the textures are expertly blended for maximum effect, and the more you focus on the ‘wall’ the deeper it seems to slowly buck ‘n’ bay at one's sonic senses.
En Suspension is a great two-track wall noise release- both tracks are equally captivating and engaging. I do hope we’ll get to hear some new work from Charlotte soon, as she still very much has the skill/ talent to tool great wall-craft.