Ombilicum Story
This is probably the first volume of a series of works on the idea of filiation, a questioning on where we get what we are from and what trace we leave in others without knowing it, everyone growing up fed by unknown textures that are mostly invisible though they do build up personality.
When I was a kid, there was an old upright piano standing in the living room of my parents’ house in the countryside near Lyon (south east of France), with loads of my mother’s bibelots throning on its cap, which would make it nearly impossible - even outrageous - to open when time had come to tune it. I would sit there for hours, playing it with my right hand while blasting heavenly pads chords on my casio synth with the left one. It was mostly improvisation and repetition. I used to record these on a tape recorder then I would listen to it thinking “waow, those five seconds there are just beautiful”. The tracks were most of the time about twenty minutes long! Since then, when working for other musicians or artists as a producer, I’ve always tried to stick to those five seconds miracle, thinking that if you had these in a track, the track was ok. Or you would have to look for them.../...

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Ombilicum II. Story
Ombilicum II. Seasons is the second volume of a work on the idea of filiation and memory. the four tracks were composed in this period of the year when the weather changes all the time, between november and december. Which makes it quite difficult for the mood to be constant as you wake up one morning with a crystal clear blue sky, and then face a black rainy climate the following morning, which ends up in a teerible wind all night to open up with snow the next day, then sun, ... I was wondering if any could still find some kind of harmony in this, some kind of balance within the uncertainty of the next step. The four tracks try to turn around this possible balance. Composed in the same way as Ombilicum I., with slow tempo, repetitive drum lines, melody and sound processing in the background. Contratry to Ombilicum I., the textures this time are a means to link the seasons together. On "Autumn", it's wind and rain, wind only on "Winter" but treated as in a cave, wind again on Spirng but through branches of trees, and sea waves on "Summer". All this is mixed with reverbs and delays with hi EQ damping as the overall sound is more medium than on Ombilicum I. .../...

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Ombilicum III. Story
At the very beginning, "Kokura" was a 5th piece to Ombilicum II. Seasons. It should have been called "Spring is back again". You may even spot hints to Spring by the end of the track. BUT. As the composition was going on, the music got darker, much darker. I had read that article abouit the city of Kokura, Japan, which was the original target of the 1945 2nd nuclear bombing. It was only because of the bad weather that it was decided to choose Nagasaki instead. The fact is that the plane actually turned back 3 times over Kokura before leaving. that was just after the Hiroshima bombing. I tried to imagine what feelings could people have there, before, and after. Probably a terrible mix of fear and relief.
That's how the nice ambient Spring II track became a dark cinematic violin led dramatic piece. Though i tried to mix drama and relief through the use of the church organ (flute mode). The piano ending, apart from approaching the harmony of the original Spring track, is here to depict the silence after, the return to quietness, though the harm lingers on .../...

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Ombilicum IV. Story
Of course this is a personal view. I started with East in my very usual way of composing which makes the track quite close to my work on OMBILICUM I. and II. The chinese violin samples goes just fine here, mixed with celtic singing which, strangely enough, might sound chinese too. North came second. i must say i was thinking about Europe and the image i got to mind wasn't exactly joyful. That's why i tried to oppose chaos and regret in this track, with a hectic 1st part, closer to Industrial techno than to ambient. The orchestral 2nd part is some piece of my XIXth century romantic puzzle springing back. West is almost a cover of VANGELIS's Blade runner main theme. It's almost done only with treated guitars improvised on a soundscape bed.../...

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