Vex,
Christof Migone's second CD, is a cycle of three works, three 20-minute suites each inspired by a "shadow" (the composer's word) and created with the help of a friend. "Marche Arrière" ("Reverse") is inhabited by the ghost of French composer
Erik Satie and features percussionist
Michel F. Côté. "Cris-Cris" was inspired by French writer Antonin Artaud and created with the help of
Gregory Whitehead. "Corps dans le Vide" ("Bodies in Emptiness"), a collaboration with Louis Ouellet, is impregnated with the philosophy of
Gilles Deleuze. Each suite is divided into short interlocking segments (nothing over four minutes), a technique
Migone displayed on his previous album
Hole in the Head. The sound collages mostly use voices, as well as electro-acoustic and electronic sounds, alternating in the form of a cut-and-paste. The composer's fascination with speech puts a new dress on: instead of accidental speech, he now uses excerpts from the featured ghost's body of works to weave enigmatic strings of meaning into his piece. "Marche Arrière" is the more lighthearted of the three, while "Corps dans le Vide" gets very close to aural claustrophobia. All three have a more abstract construction, a less visceral delivery than
Hole in the Head, but they feature a wider palette of sounds and techniques. It should be noted that the collaborators' input did not leave a remarkable stamp:
Migone's touch remains the strongest one everywhere on this album.