Sébastien Forrester has spent the past few years crafting a sound that is nebulous and hard to pin down, blending tactile, visceral drumming, traditional instruments, electroacoustic mutability as well as more orchestral dynamics, as heard on his latest long-form pieces released through Italian label Superpang.

On ‘Shield’, the Franco-British percussionist and composer takes some of his recent explorations back to more rhythmical, frantic and dancefloor-oriented territories, reuniting with his passion for tempestuous, sometimes even abrasive electronic music production scopes. Having performed both solo and alongside Coby Sey, Alpha Maid, Speakers Corner Quartet, Kukii (fka Lafawndah), Forest Swords and more recently Heith, all across Europe and Canada, he has developed an elastic, freeform and ever-morphing approach to improvisation and spontaneous composition. More than ever before, he layers fluid polyrhythmic live drum takes and leaves most of them raw and untouched.

Mika Oki with whom Forrester has co-founded IVM Trio alongside Brussels-based visual artist and electronic music producer Apulati Bien - shows up on title-track ‘Shield’ and delivers some of her signature brain-warping Eurorack modulations. French composer and multi-instrumentalist Swann then appears on ‘Overpast’ and provides grandiose trumpet arrangements to the piece, turning it into a climatic, near-cinematic closer. The labyrinthine, shivering ‘Flowstone’ and ‘Din’ both incorporate ancient instruments such as the psaltery, the hurdy-gurdy and the cabrette bagpipe originating from Auvergne, performed by Forrester himself or recreated using a mixture of hardware sampling and digital synthesis.

‘Shield’ captures an electrifying urgency: it is contrasted, ecstatic and desolate at the same time, unstable and even rhythmically damaged at some point.

Composed, produced & mixed by Sébastien Forrester
Modular synthesizers on 'Shield' by Mika Oki
Trumpet & arrangements on 'Overpast' by Swann Texier
Additional hurdy-gurdy on all tracks by Gabriel Delfour
Additional cabrette bagpipe on 'Shield', 'Din' & 'Overpast' by Gaston Vialard
Percussion engineered & recorded by Thibaut Javoy at Red Bull Studios, Paris
Gongs engineered & recorded by Sébastien Forrester at Ancienne Belgique, Brussels
Mastering by Le Dom

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