FOUDRE! (French for lightning and, by association, its elemental force electricity) are multi-instrumentalist improvisers Frédéric Oberland, Roman Barbot and Paul Régimbaud. They work electronic and traditional instruments into a mélange of prog-infused dark ambience, world and industrial music. Their use of the lute-like saz, the double reeded woodwind zurna, chalumeau (a precursor to the clarinet) and acoustic percussion ties their analog and modular synths to pre-industrial times as they delve into subterranean chambers in search of connections between innocence and intrusion. A fusion of thrumming electronics and sparks of acoustic light, Voltæ Chthulucene recalls the middle eastern flavored ambient dub of Muslimgauze and the dystopic imaginary soundtracks of Shinjuku Thief.
At the center of Voltæ are drone and heartbeat. They provide the foundation which connects the ancient and modern, the tectonic and the human. On Visions of Zürütetsu”, Oberland plays long, keening notes on the zurna over shuffling acoustic and synthetic percussion punctuated with squalling electronics. It feels as timeless in its ritual concentration, a summoning as well as a message. “Acid Karma” buries the drone beneath layers of taiko influenced drums then brings it to the fore in ululating vocals and woodwinds. There’s a touch of Clock DVA’s White Souls in Black Suits in both the intensity and the sense that it’s ever on the edge of collapsing into itself. “Badlands” is a haunted ballad, that twinkles along as a solo keyboard piece counterpointed by the cries of underground spirits and a rumbling bass tone. “Cybernetic Reset” combines a thumping bass drum with insectoid buzz to create a robotic scourge of sound. “Transmutação’ is less successful as the trio seem to aim for mordant atmospherics but succumb to a drift absent from the preceding tracks. They close with “A Moment of Eternity: Replicate” on which they sink into a primordial soup of drones and ectoplasmic bleeps. A metronomic ticking marks time, or the absence thereof, as tones struggle to form rudimentary patterns. It feels simultaneously like the beginning of life and a countdown to its end. The metronome plays out alone, then silence. Ancient and modern, light and dark, organic and industrial. FOUDRE! lose their momentum on occasion but Voltæ Chthulucene is an impressively cohesive combination of contrasts.
