There's virtually no chance that this tape does not make it to the top of my best-of-2024 list... warm and complex piano improvisations, recorded in Hugo Maillard's house, with windows wide opened on a blooming garden, last spring. Obviously recalling all-time favourite Virginia Astley's From Gardens Where We Feel Secure.
Too good to be true... and yet, I hold this 40-something-minute-long miracle of a tape in my hands. I probably look like that smiling emoji with tears in its eyes, as I now listen to the second song, "Véronique petit chêne". Tas de foin's appeal might be universal, just as Miyazaki's films are universal: Hugo Maillard puts on tape an idyllic impressionist portrait of a homely place in the Breton countryside. The music conveys all that is encapsulated in a shadowy triangle that imperceptibly moves on the living room's wooden floor, surrounded by golden figures; in that short walk outside, in the chill morning hours that announce a bright hot day in Brittany.
Hugo Maillard's release belongs to this subconscious scene of pastoral acoustic improvs that has been blossoming in post-pandemic times - sitting not far from recent releases by Salenta + Topu or Flaer- but Tas de foin also firmly stands out with its strong focus on Maillard's instrument, the chords, notes and silences he plays. The tape format and the "open mic" type of recording, that captures all sort of parasitic sounds, may make it feel like the composition work is subsidiary. It is not. Tas de foin is not a "vibes over notes" kind of album; very much the contrary, really.
It turns out that the field recordings are actually edited and form a slowly moving background, that playfully interacts with Maillard's playing, in the foreground. And this background never gets in the way of the pianist's sophisticated chords, tinged in jazz history, some of which recall the crepuscular nature of Bill Evans' playing and Satie's compositions.
It's also hard not to think of Dominique Lawalrée, but Hugo Mailard's music echoes the Belgian master's work in an optimistic, sunny way. There are also hints of Debussy and Federico Mompou, of course, but I think I'll stop my review here... Pure joy and, eventually, best release of 2024. Tape Comes in different colours. (M/M wholesale: shops, contact us)
