The essence of now may assume its body and weight or even lightness in-between the before and after of experienced time. Between the before and after, the just before and the shortly after, one can often find a window of infinity, a moment of peace, pause and deep reflection. This is at least the case with Laurie Torres’s new collection, Après Coup.
Torres is of Haitian-Canadian origin; her musical upbringing is of an adventurous nature with quite a wide array of references and inspirations, but also professional contributions as a studio and stage performer. In Après Coup, a follow-up to the EP Correspondances, the listener comes into close contact with a series of intimate improvisations recorded within a short window of time in-between touring and performing, on the edge of a lake in St-Zénon, Québec.
In these eleven compositions, we witness Torres making time, creating a space for pause, reflection and an infinite freedom of creativity. The overall sense of the album is warm, welcoming and comforting. In pieces like “Duvet” and “Lisière”, we feel the rays of morning light crossing through Torre’s studio and playing with the slowly evolving repetitive piano melodies. A space is created for imagination, and Torres’s process becomes more and more transparent and lightweight. Deep observation leads to a sense of gradual movement and plays with perspective in “Feux Fuyants” and “Intérieurs” as syncopated rhythms, repetitive piano and melodic sequences gradually become wider, thicker and more complex.
The layering of Torres’s soft and velvety melodies and the improvisational movements behind pieces like “Reflets” and “Point-Virgule” demonstrate an impulse to share and shape the ineffable and the ephemeral, and yet an awareness of time and its passing is becoming more and more pronounced in “Clessidra” and “Correspondances.” The album reaches its closure with “Golden T-Shirts” and “Exit”, echoing Torres’s own fleeting musical influences from jazz to classical to contemporary and pop.
The world of Après Coup is a made of a vibrant and vivid cluster of soft, bright, mellow, quietly paced compositions that is familiar and surprising, soothing and uplifting. Torres’s musicianship eloquently moves from one instrument or genre to another, offering a pleasant journey through her small yet infinite window of freedom and creativity, between the before and after. (Maria Papadomanolaki)
