Not reading what this is about beforehand, you may hear Extended Loudspeakers as a gentle and slightly monotonous experimental ambient album. You might even draw comparisons with Biosphere and Thomas Köner : slow-paced, quiet drones with icy occasional sonic interventions. The truth is, there is no computer involved here, nothing digital. This album was recorded in an exhibition space, for Extended Loudspeakers is a lo-fi, D.I.Y.-type sound installation. Pierre Berthet explains in the liner notes: “An extended loudspeaker is a loudspeaker with as less membrane as possible connected with long steel wires to a net of metal can resonators.” This system is set to vibrate using various means: drops of water falling in the cans at the beginning of the piece, a hand-held fan applied to the steel wires, sine waves, feedback, even a snippet of random music on the radio. It’s a bare-bones set-up, but it produces interesting sounds, if a somewhat limited array of them. The continuous 60-minute piece drags on a bit, especially in the last third, where new ideas are slow to come by, but Berthet manages to create and maintain a peculiar aural atmosphere, one that puzzles the ear on several occasions. – François Couture
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