Jessica Constable and Philippe Gelda

MAITRES CORBEAUX  (master crows)  Jessica Constable and Philippe Gelda have been composing and improvising together since 1991.  Their suites for voice and piano ( or other keyboards) have been performed in venues ranging from jazz clubs to a shepherds cabin. The suites are usually composed with a specific venue in mind.Philippe Gelda prepares upright piano using everyday objects like beer mats and clothes pegs. These bring out unusual percussive and harmonic qualities which make reference to contempory electronic music or echo the atmospherics of old and battered pianos. Philippe also uses organ and other keyboards.Jessica Constable sings written texts or stream-of -consciousness lyrics that she uses to explore resonance and texture. She sometimes uses electronic filters, echos and modulation.Their songs, improvisations and lyrics are usually simple and usually concise. They are edited down until all that's left are The Best and Favourite Bits. They use a lot of repetition, melodies of few notes and few harmonic changes. Jessica Consatbele and Philippe Gelda -the Vine and Vein Collection (Hand/Eye) with artwork by Benoit Bonnemaison-Fitte release May 1st 2008