Third project with great French drummer Christophe Marguet: Echoes of Time.
Régis Huby: Electro-Acoustic Tenor Violin, Electronics
Manu Codjia: Electric Guitar
Hélène Labarrière: Double Bass
Christophe Marguet: Drums
Recorded in October 2023 at Studio “Gil Evans”, Amiens by Maiköl Seminatore,
assisted by Bertrand Härdi.
Mixed in November 2023 by Maïkôl Seminatore.
Mastered in December 2023 by Marwan Danoun.
Photos: Jérôme Prébois.
Graphic Design: Christian Kirk-Jensen / Danish Pastry Design.
Project administration and coordination: Sidonie Lerer.
Produced by Mélodie en sous-sol
Contact: contact@melodiensousol.com
Régis Huby plays on a Frédéric Pons Electro-Acoustic Tenor Violin (Atelier Kopo)
and a Electro-Acoustic Tenor Violin, Electronics.
Manu Codjia plays on a Vendramini Guitar.
Christophe want to thank: Régis, Manu and Hélène, Maïkôl Seminatore, Marwan Danoun,
Christian Kirk-Jensen, Benoit Delaquaize, Stéphane Ichai, Bertrand Härdi, Spedidam, Adami,
Sppf, Cnm, Nicolas Taupin and La Cave in Argenteuil, Jean-Pierre Vivante, Agnès and Patrice
at Moulin de Boigny, Julien Thiery and the association La Coudée, Sylvain Couget and la Caz
à Lisa, Philippe Balin and Agnès Rigal, Sophie Gastine and Pierre Fischer, Sidonie Lerer,
Jérôme Prébois, Luc Genetay, Céline Charissou, Romain Massé, Dominique Abdesselam,
Olivier Acosta, Éric Fery, and my first support Isabelle Marguet.
I wonder if it’s still worth recording a record. A strange question to ask for someone who is releasing a new album.
Everything suggests that the record as a physical object is no longer indispensable and above all, the very idea of an album, on the whole, is no longer of any real interest. We are tending towards fragmented listening in the form of ‘playlists’. This new way of listening allows us to discover many new things but paradoxically leads to constant zapping. The agitation and hectic pace of the world around us means we have less and less time to listen to a story in depth. Yet, an album, when it’s a success, tells the whole story with drama and deserves our full attention.
It is impossible for us to imagine doing without the step of recording an album where our ideas, feelings and thoughts come together with our sounds and experiences. It is such an intense moment for the band and something more permanent in the life of a musician. A record is an essential step, a freeze-frame, a snapshot of a moment in life. I love these moments in the studio when you feel you have managed to capture something that takes shape and comes alive, a moment of play, exchange, harmony, and deep, intense communication. It is always fleeting, unexpected. But when these moments occur, they are the source of a feeling of contentment and weightlessness which, I believe, is the ultimate reward.
A record represents only one of the facets of who we are, or who the band really is. It is merely the reflection of these moments that we have to accept without trying to make them permanent or absolute, and which will accompany us from then on in our lives as musicians, hopefully in complete serenity. This stage enables us to keep moving forward and becomes an anchor or point of reference from which we might go even further the next time.
Echoes of Time is the first band I have brought together with no wind instruments, uniquely composed of strings and drums together with electronic sounds which allow us to dress up the orchestral sound and break away from a solely acoustic colour. Regis, Manu and Hélène are musicians I love enormously who I have worked with for many years and with whom I have been lucky enough to share many moments on stage, in the studio and on the road This record is one of these special moments. I hope you will have as much pleasure listening to it as we had in making it.
Christophe Marguet
Melodie en sous-sol
Art Direction
Christian Kirk-Jensen / Danish Pastry Design
Photos: Jérôme Prébois. Illustrations: Christian Kirk-Jensen
2023