Over the course of the 19 minutes of “Antimatière”, Jorane plunges into the acousmatic universe… as have dozens and dozens of Quebec composers, hundreds of Canadian composers and thousands of electroacoustic creators from all over the world since the 1970s. One can already imagine the journalistic world applauding the star’s audacity while the traditional media largely keep their feet dry. But if it’s Jorane, then… wow! Will this little offering help open up the world of indie pop to the virtues of contemporary electronic music? And… why not, by the way? How can you not be happy when an artist elevates their proposal? It should be stressed that the cellist, singer, and composer has done her homework, that is to say that she has really applied herself to understanding the codes inherent to the electroacoustic universe. To do so, she consulted the right person: this first piece is the result of a collaboration with Robert Normandeau, renowned composer and director of the Groupe de recherche en immersion spatiale (GRIS) at the Université de Montréal’s Faculty of Music. Around recordings of Jorane’s voice and strings, filtered and transformed in real time, Normandeau built a bank of sounds with which his “client” could then create and carry out her mutations, and thus seduce the most curious part of her audience. The work accomplished is valid, the arcs of intensity are well managed, the superimpositions of textures rigorously constructed… a fine exercise in style, in short. An album will follow, the “most ambitious project of her career”, we are told, culminating in the spring of 2021.
