Erratum (EM009) October 2013
My first encounter with Joachim Montessuis came through Bryan Lewis Saunders, a common friend and brilliant artist from Tennessee, who introduced me to his work a couple of years ago. I've been in contact with Bryan since the early days of my label Fragment Factory, his collaboration tape with the dutch artist Raymond Dijkstra was one of the first outputs on FF and remains one of my favorites to this day. Bryan already knew Joachim for quite a while at that time and was working with him on his debut LP which was eventually released on Joachim's Paris based Erratum label. They did a couple of tracks together for this album which Bryan sent me prior to the release of the LP (if I remember correctly). I was taken by Joachim's work to say the least, which led to our first meeting in Paris in 2011 and the release of his first LP "Chapel Perilous" on Fragment Factory the year after. We stayed in touch ever since, met again and I finally had the pleasure to see him performing live at last year's "Extreme Rituals" fest in Bristol, UK.
My first encounter with Joachim Montessuis came through Bryan Lewis Saunders, a common friend and brilliant artist from Tennessee, who introduced me to his work a couple of years ago. I've been in contact with Bryan since the early days of my label Fragment Factory, his collaboration tape with the dutch artist Raymond Dijkstra was one of the first outputs on FF and remains one of my favorites to this day. Bryan already knew Joachim for quite a while at that time and was working with him on his debut LP which was eventually released on Joachim's Paris based Erratum label. They did a couple of tracks together for this album which Bryan sent me prior to the release of the LP (if I remember correctly). I was taken by Joachim's work to say the least, which led to our first meeting in Paris in 2011 and the release of his first LP "Chapel Perilous" on Fragment Factory the year after. We stayed in touch ever since, met again and I finally had the pleasure to see him performing live at last year's "Extreme Rituals" fest in Bristol, UK.
I remember Joachim already telling me about this project with Maja when we met for the first time and it shouldn't take less then 5 years from its beginning to the final release. I discovered Ratkje way before I came across Montessuis (I think through her collaborations with Lasse Marhaug throughout the 2000's), but for some reason I never examined her impressive body of work any closer. All the more delightful that she was brought back to my attention with the recent release of this album.
First of all, Janus is a beautifully and highly esthetically looking record. Subtle black jacket, black inner sleeve, very restrained, minimal design, done by JM himself. Very much fitting the previous releases on his delicate label.
At the first moment, listening to Janus calls up pioneering vocal acrobats like Henri Chopin or Trevor Wishart. Further listening however reveals much more than that and - although the voice is still the main tool here - brings up the skillful combination of classic sound poetry elements with frantic cut-up electronic techniques and short outbursts of noise Montessuis is well-known for. The B-Side even comes up with an unexpected, spherical, almost meditative piece, which would have made a great finale in my opinion. I'm not aware of the division of work between the two artists on Janus, but we certainly have the voices of both on here, at the most perfectly complementing each other. I would guess that Montessuis did the mixing and was responsible for the electronics but I could be wrong here. Anyway, every bit of Janus seems cautiously arranged and assembled with care to a fascinating whole. It's quite a multiface(te)d record and as much as I believe to detect the distinctive hallmarks of JM at certain points, as much am I looking forward to delve into the works of Ratkje and make out hers.
Erratum
Maja Ratkje
Joachim Montessuis
