Eric LA CASA – Jérôme NOETINGER
“Off Tracks”

Within the expanding territories of electroacoustic investigation and field recording archaeology, Éric La Casa and Jérôme Noetinger present Off Tracks, a profound meditation on absence, decay, and the spectral traces left behind in emptied architectural spaces via Erstwhile Records. This collaboration between two masters of contemporary sound art unfolds as “an exploration of buildings emptied of their activities, a crossing of spaces abandoned by their occupants, a drift through the ghostly trace of a vanished presence,” as Noetinger describes it. The work stands as both sonic documentation and philosophical inquiry into the nature of abandonment and the material traces that persist when human presence withdraws.

Éric La Casa, renowned for his meticulous approach to environmental recording and spatial acoustics, joins forces with Jérôme Noetinger, whose work with Metamkine and extensive solo practice has established him as a pivotal figure in the French electroacoustic underground. Together, they navigate the liminal spaces between presence and absence, creating what Noetinger characterizes as “a testimony to the general deterioration underway that also applies to the very medium of recording.” Off Tracks emerges from a conceptual framework that positions field recording not merely as documentation but as archaeological practice. The duo’s methodology involves careful listening to spaces stripped of their intended functions, revealing the subtle sonic signatures that remain when buildings are abandoned by their occupants. Through precise microphone placement and electroacoustic processing, they uncover what Noetinger calls “the ghostly trace of a vanished presence.”

The album’s approach to deterioration extends beyond its subject matter to encompass the recording medium itself, creating a meta-commentary on the fragility of both architectural and sonic preservation. This self-reflexive dimension places the work within the broader context of contemporary sound art’s engagement with entropy and temporal decay, recalling the investigations of Luc Ferrari and Hildegard Westerkamp while pushing into more abstract territories.