Xavier Charles, clarinet (acoustic & amplified). Bertrand Gauguet, alto saxophone (acoustic & amplified).
“[…] this is some very radical music. It is mostly about playing lengthy sustaining passages in which the amplification can seem to take over from the actual playing. However, that said, this is not about total feedback, noise or distortion. Charles and Gauguet maintain a strong level of control over their work, in which they can easily play for a few minutes very quietly and yet one feels a lot of tension between the players. Everything seems to be about this level of control. Each of the six pieces is carefully played out and most of the times it didn’t seem like two amplified wind instruments; it could have been some amplified string objects, but not with a lot of reverb. It doesn’t sound like a long string instrument. When you play this loud, the sound will be overwhelming and an attack on the ears, but at a moderate level seems to bring out some equally great beauty, without being such a burden upon the listener.” Vital Weekly 1234