Eve Egoyan & Mauricio Pauly - Hopeful Monster [No Hay Discos 004]

Put out on the circuit as cat.no. 004 of the Canadian No Hay Discos label on October 6th, 2k23 is "Hopeful Monster", the new collaboration album conceived by Eve Egoyan and Mauricio Pauly who are fusing the sounds of natural, augmented and modelled pianos with live samplers and processing as well as other osund sources over the course of ten compositions and a total playtime of roughly 56 minutes on this one. Inspired by an informal 2k18 jam session followed by years of exchanging ideas, data and soundfiles via the global communication link known as the internet the two artists once again teamed up irl for the recording of this album in early June of 2k22, with trust built in each others sonic paths yet without a set conception of what the end result of the recording process would sound like. With "Hopeful Monster" Egoyan and Pauly are exploring an intense, oftentimes dark and brooding path of what could be described as electronically enhanced Contemporary Classical music, regularly carried by a foundation of tectonic rumbles and heavy low frequency movements which, in their abstract nature, seem to provide a connecting point to genres like Glitch or Clicks'n'Cuts whereas intricate piano movements as well as minimalist plucked chromaharp strings are bringing forth an aspect of Modern Classical music, despite being oftentimes processed, enhanced and electronically twisted to an airy, reverberating and x or entirely ghostly effect reminiscent of tape manipulations or early attempts of a 'new music' which intentionally bends, dismisses or even completely forgoes established compositional techniques entirely. This being said the entire album provides a somewhat time-dissolving quality due to its steady meandering, yet fully improvised flow and the lack of regular repetition that comes with it which results in an ever changing continuous sonic narrative of which pieces like the rather minimalist "Dialing With Abandon" are bringing forth a score'esque quality probably suitable for experimental short films whilst the subsequent "Stilled Shadow" is dabbling with a comforting, surely nocturnal amalgamation of Dark Ambient x Dark Jazz and tenderly sparkling, ever cascading piano lines whilst "Agree No Frown" is introducing free, and well physically present, drum / percussion improvisations and otherworldly non-vocalisms for the very first time on "Hopeful Monster" and "Height" sees the duo setting course towards Space Age Ambient for realms and sacred secret ritualisms just to name a few outstanding cuts here. One for the Avantgarde-informed collector of Deep Listening Music, this. Go check.

Album artwork on Instagram!