Stream It From The Mountain: Jean-Sébastien Côté – Wilderness

Jean-Sébastien Côté is a Canadian composer and sound designer whose experimental electronic music can be heard in the theatre, on TV and in art installations.  He is also one half of the electronic duo crashride.  His most recent work, Wilderness was released late last year and was written for and inspired by SOMETHING ABOUT WILDERNESS AND OTHER ATTEMPTS AT TAMING BEAUTY by Melanie Demers and Laïla Diallo, presented by the Skånes Dansteater in Malmö, Sweden.

Wilderness was composed and performed by Côté using just piano, analog synths and strings, which were performed by Marjolaine Lambert (violin), Heather Schnarr (violin), Emily Westell (violin) and Paul Casey (viola). 

The opening track, “Genesis”, over its eight-minute-and-41 second run time, is a slow burn of long-droning and buzzing strings that are barely audible to begin the song but burst to life in a cacophonous swell to end the song.  The following track, “Beauty and the Beast” sounds like its title implies, with gorgeous ascending melodies but with a sinister undercurrent.  Other standouts include, “Alep” which is evocative of being caught in a swirling snow storm and “Bad Racket” highlighted by its echoing beat and haunting strings.

 Jean-Sébastien Côté’s Wilderness is a beautifully meditative and quiet listen; a headphones-worthy world to get lost in.

For more info: https://www.jscote.com/

Stream Wilderness here: