Descending from the Toulousian post-hardcore scene, Romain Barbot and Gregory Buffier have produced more than a dozen tormented ambient-drone records under the name Saåad, such as the remarkable Deep Float (Hands In The Dark, 2014). Upon invitation of the local Les Orgues festival, giving them access to the Puget organ located in the Church of Notre-Dame de la Dalbade, they composed an original creation that In Paradisum is proud to publish under the form of the album Verdaillon.
Through dynamics of elevation, suspension and tension, Saåad’s music reaches altered states. Consisting of thick patches of sound, it gathers powerful harmonies and buries them under samples of the world’s rustling sounds. The sources are rarely identifiable, which makes for the singularity to each record.
Verdaillon goes against the lyrical outbursts that are familiar to a certain register of ambient music, and towards an extremely rare quality of dynamic and detail. The record’s singular and discreet beauty is due to the organ in all of its most secular aspects, and to a certain « something in the air » of that particular place, on those particular days. The finale of Vorde provides the key to the record: it takes the listeners back to the instrument’s origins, at a time when the spiritual was part of ordinary life.