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Sophie Agnel: Song (Sophie Agnel)
By
John Butcher
saxophoneb.1954

John Edwards
bass, acoustic
Steve Noble
drumsb.1960
But that is not quite the entire story. What gives the session its distinctive flavor is the framing device: a taped voicethat of soprano Mauricette Millot singing a 1958 rendition of the traditional French carol "San Jousé m'a dit"on the first and last of the seven cuts. More on that later, but suffice to say now that the shrewd programming signals another of Agnel's enduring virtuesa refined sense of structure, even in the most unbound settings.
Like many others, she treats the keyboard less as a fixed instrument than as a mutable noise generatorextending far beyond the static preparations prescribed by

John Cage
composer / conductor1912 - 1992
In further examples of canny organization, Agnel alternates density between numbers. The isolated droplets and distorted reverberations of "Song 2" hover in the domain of restraint, while the percussive, mechanical, relentless hammering of "Song 3" is all tension and torque. Even without recourse to the taped voices, she creates sonic layers, which evoke vivid and elemental metaphors: oceanic swells, distant storms, cicada drones, errant poltergeist tappings. At times these emerge as fragmented pulses, at others they engender an immersive, shimmering haze.
The use of Millot's voice adds an unexpected emotional dimension. On the opener, the carol enters as a spectral presence amid an ambient hiss, rattle and resounding key strokes. By the time it reappears in the final track, it is a much more corporeal entity, one which Agnel initially ignores with tentative strikes, but then incrementally aligns, sounding out the underlying harmonic progression, along with thuds, strums and echoes, all sustained even as the voice fades, until she finishes the cut with a gentle lilting coda of two repeated chords in quiet resolution.
It is a stunning denouement to an invigoratingly plotted albumless a climax than a reconciliationon a record shaped with rare attentiveness. Song may be minimalist in players, but it is abundant in ideas, and its coherence lies in Agnel's ability to sculpt time and resonance with unwavering focus. ">
Track Listing
Song 1; Song 2; Song 3; Song 4; Song 5; Song 6; Song 7.
Personnel
Sophie Agnel
drumsAdditional Instrumentation
Sophie Agnel: piano.
Album information
Title: Song (Sophie Agnel) | Year Released: 2025 | Record Label: Relative Pitch Records
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