Potin, Yves - jazzcomputer.org: Life-Unfolding

Over the past 12 years, French composer Yves Potin has built an impressive catalogue of jazz and world music inspired ambient creations. September 2017 saw the composer release his well received Forest Stairways album but also found him realising that with the experience he now has behind him and the advances in technology, his own early work was in need of a little tender love and care. Life-Unfolding was originally released back in 2009 when Potin was operating under the name jazzcomputer.org, hence the double-billing here. At that stage it was the sixth album in his catalogue and it would be fair to suggest that this re-release goes much further than simply remastering what was originally laid down. Instead Potin has seen fit to re-orchestrate some pieces; the dreamy mechanic swirl of “Air And Water Laps� and jazz ‘guitar’ and Orientally inclined “Unfolded� almost completely reimagined.

As if that wasn’t enough, there’s also a new composition altogether, “Seven Bells� tolling for the first time, and an enigmatic discovery it proves to be; shimmering wisps of sound gently surging into consciousness, while occasional pin-pricks of melody and chimes are carried along by alien sounding offshoots and their ghostly percussions. This is no tacked on afterthought and in fact proves to be a highlight of the whole experience. But across the album Potin reveals a sympathetic touch and while the usual names such as Jarre and Schulze can be applied to much of what you hear across Life-Unfolding, more niche performers like Matthias Grassow or Steven Roach also come into play.

While the moniker jazzcomputer.org does go some way to describing what you’ll experience on this album, it really isn’t even half the story. Put simply, if you approached this project expecting jazz composed on a computer, then you’d be surprised by the ambient drips and swooshes of “Concealing Brightness�, or the retro-hi-tech console sounds of “Seeds In Darkness�. However, once you allow these incredibly patient soundscapes to reveal themselves and then to wash over you, the beauty and undoubted craftsmanship on display quickly draws you further into Yves Potin’s life, as it unfolds.

Track Listing
1. Seeds in Darkness
2. Concealing Brightness
3. Air and Water Laps
4. Lost Shore
5. Seven Bells
6. Drawing Forth
7. Unfolded

Added: October 17th 2018
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Life-Unfolding on bandcamp
Hits: 2381
Language: english

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