Album Review: Patrice Sciortino - Percupulsions

The beauty of library music, or at least the good stuff, is that it isn't weighed down by the need to be popular. Great musicians aren't simply content to go through the motions, and many, like French composer Patrice Sciortino, use the opportunity to take risks, experiment and defy convention. This is the second Omni reissue of Sciortino's work and it sees the composer exploring some darker, more difficult material. There's a certain experimental baroque intensity to the first half of the album, with urgent, almost violent harpsichord and metronomic woodblock rhythms. As a combination it's nothing short of bizarre, a kind of stark repetitive minimalism. And while it's highly inventive, one wonders what kind of television or radio would have utilised this strange brew.

The second half of the album showcases Gymnorhythmies 1, which begins with a nervous stalking Exercises Avec Cerceaux No. 1. This album is apparently designed for contemporary dance or gymnastics, though again it's hard to imagine what kind of nervous twitchy gymnast would use this music for their routines. Later tracks are significantly different, bearing similarities to the kind of lilting breezy work of Stereolab or High Llamas. There's a kind of wondrous wide-eyed beauty to this music, where his avant-garde schisms tend to be masked by a youthful exuberance. The palette here is very different, utilising glockenspiel-type instruments and high-tempo percussion, a combination which at times tends to impose a certain kind of tension.

There is something hypnotic about these experimental, quite minimal works. Again it's another example of Sciortino's dexterity and why he should be considered alongside the likes of Bernard Herrman and Ennio Morricone.