French-Canadian artist Charles-Emile Beullac has been recording as Galerie Stratique for some time. Having made his first appearance on Worm Interface’s Alt Frequencies series, he went on to release his debut album, Nothing Down-To-Earth, on the now-defunct Law & Auder imprint in the early 00s. His warm and organic blend of electronic sounds was developed further on his sophomore effort, Horizzzons. His most recent album, Faux World, released recently, denotes a radical change of direction. Based around sound samples recorded during a series of improv sessions and with instruments collected during a trip to Indonesia, the new album was partly inspired by the random memories Beullac had of this trip as he fell victim of the side effects of anti-malaria tablets. Here, he talks about his musical education, from learning classical music to discovering electronic music through Jean-Michel Jarre, how changing direction became important and what the future has in store for him.

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GALERIE STRATIQUE
Faux World
STATIK009
Statik Distribution 2008
15 Tracks. 46mins14secs

With his debut album, Nothing Down To Earth (Law & Auder, 2001) and its follow up, Horizzzons (Statik, 2003), Quebecer Charles-Emile Beullac created wonderful lush and evocative electronic soundtracks using a rhetoric close to that used by the likes of Boards Of Canada or Isan. His new offering is quite different. Primarily based on acoustic sound sources, ranging from flute, kalimba, xylophone and tablas to darbouka, udus, and tamboa, most of which were collected during a trip to Indonesia, the original recordings were made during a three-day jam session with friend and percussionist Raphaël Simard, with sole purpose to catalogue sounds rather than traditional use of these instruments. This is a process far removed from this album’s predecessor, which used almost no samples at all.

Faux World was inspired by the vague souvenir that Beullac retained of Indonesia as he fell victim of the side effects of the anti malaria tablets he took prior to the trip. Nightmares, irrational fears and a state of self-alienation pushed Beullac, who was travelling alone, to the brink of a serious breakdown. Continue Reading »