CFCF & Jean-Michel Blais share ‘Hasselblad 1’

CFCF & Jean-Michel Blais

CFCF & Jean-Michel BlaisHasselblad 1 is the opening track from the new collaborative EP by pianist Jean-Michel Blais and electronic producer CFCF.

“This track constitutes the first improvisation we ever played together. Basically, I was jamming around two chords while Mike was experimenting on top of it. However, we opted for a different version for the EP, using the original recording of “Hasselblad 1” (taken from my debut album Il’s B-sides) and transforming it with CFCF’s magic fingers. Subsequently, opposite but complementary worlds were merging: reminiscences of my original “Hasselblad 1″ recording (the loose tickling of a clunky upright, a clicking Hasselblad camera taking a picture, a saxophonist blowing down the street) were blending with parsimonious and ethereal sound manipulation from Mike.” – Jean-Michel Blais

Take a listen to Hasselblad 1 via Soundcloud below.

This month, the duo perform at SXSW followed by solo dates in Paris, at the Paris Music Festival, and London, for Erased Tapes’ Piano Day, by Jean-Michel Blais.

15th March: SXSW, St David’s Episcopal Church, Austin TX, USA (http://bit.ly/2lgIDhR)

17th March: Paris Music Festival, Paris FR at Petit Palais, Paris, France (http://bit.ly/2lX1mxy)

29th March: Erased Tapes’ Piano Day, St Pancras Old Church, London, UK (http://bit.ly/2ldttds)

Building off their sold out performance during the globally celebrated Red Bull Music Academy, ‘Cascades’ is a stunning 5-song, 30-minute meeting-of-minds that navigates spaces between the artists’ respective crafts and tendencies toward playful minimalism. Featuring reworkings from the duo’s catalogues, a reworking of John Cage’s “In A Landscape”, and a new original, “Hypocrite”, ‘Cascades’ is a celebration of the traditional and experimental, dissolving the old into the new.

Jean-Michel Blais’ 2016 debut album ‘Il’ (released April ‘16) of neo-classical piano pieces landed on TIME Magazine’s top ten albums of 2016, debuting at #1 Classical Billboard Chart (Canada), and long-listed for a Polaris Music Prize.

CFCF has been releasing music since 2009 on labels such as Paper Bag, 1080p, UNO, Driftless, International Feel. His wide scope of interest in genre and pop structure and mature melodic instinct allow him to shift gears effortlessly from techno and house to ambient & new age. He was nominated for a 2016 Grammy Award for his remix of Max Richter’s “Berlin by Overnight” and recently profiled in the New York Times.

CFCF & Jean-Michel Blais Cascades

 

 

 

‘Cascades’ track listing

(out on March 15th via Arts & Crafts)

Hasselblad 1
Two Mirrors
Spirit
Hypocrite
In A Landscape (Rework)