A Canadian musician and composer raised in Montréal, Québec by Haitian parents, Laurie Torres has carved a vibrant and eclectic musical path for herself from classical piano lessons and playing drums in high school bands and jazz ensembles to becoming a stage and studio performer who has toured Canada, Europe and the UK. A founding member of Folly & The Hunter, with whom she recorded four albums, Torres is on the cusp of releasing a full-length debut album of her own.
Recorded between tours in a studio beside a lake in Québec and centering around piano, drums and synthesizer and interwoven with field recordings, Après coup presents listeners with 11 tracks of instrumental music that deftly blends free-spirited improvisation and experimental jazz with meditative tones a minimalist touch. The title, which translates in English to afterwards or after the event, is a reference to a meaningful moment in time in which Torres found herself while making the album.
Après coup, to me, signifies that moment of conscience in the aftermath, fundamentally an experience of time, the relationship between the before and after...I had an urge to use creativity as a sort of resting place, a place where things can unfold slowly and take time to reveal themselves. In other words, I felt the need to make something slower, more elusive.
While Après coup may be a debut of sorts, it becomes clear upon listening that Torres draws from a deep well-spring of creativity, skill, and expressiveness. The liner notes refer to her ascending to a “flow state” while making the record and the music substantiates the claim with a sublime balance between freeform experimentation and restrained elegance.
A fine case in point is the just release single premiering here entitled “Golden t-shirts” in which a languid, bluesy piano line weaves its way around a delicate interplay with the clarinet, lightly skittering percussion, and other ambient effects. Have a listen for yourself while you enjoy Laurie’s own impressions of the piece.
Playing the theme like this – not in the square way that I heard it as initially – and improvising around it felt like a relief, like dust settling. Something about it feels like waking up after a long period of grief and reaching that state of “ok, now I’m ready to go on”. That song just came out of me in one go towards the end of the sessions and it felt like I had arrived somewhere.
Links: Listen/buy | Bandcamp (LP/digital) | Laurie Torres
Après coup will be released February 21, 2025, by Tonal Union and will be available on limited edition black vinyl LP as well as digital download & streaming. the album was Mixed and mastered by Stephan Mathieu and features covert art by Cover artwork by Maria Zahle.
