Exzald S - Iridesc

A Closer Listen

We’ve been covering the work of Exzald S (Sarah Foulquiere) for years, as the artist has appeared on some of our favorite albums: Aho Ssan’s Rhizomes, Jlin’s Black Origami, the Berlin Atonal box set.  Earlier this year she collaborated with mu tate and Nexcyia on the album Labège. After a decade of remarkable releases, Exzald S is finally ready to unveil her debut solo album ~ not counting the collaborative Serene Transfer Scheme, lodged in a unique steel box.

The fantastic art ~ also by the artist ~ is an invitation to enter into a fabulous science fictional world.  On Irisdesc, Exzald S continues to map the terrain of a planet only she knows, sending samples of her voice into space as if each were a passenger on Voyager‘s golden record.  Words are secondary to expression, sucked into whirlpools of electronic sound.

While there are other travelers in the same sonic galaxy ~ Katarina Gryvul, for example whose recent work also appears on the Subtext label ~ no others share her planet.  This is because she isn’t merely visiting the planet; she is the planet, surveying the territorires of her own soul.  The album arose from a period of grief, which explains its initial fracture and eventual cohesion.

At first, the music is ambient, like the glow of celestial currents.  One imagines the Aurora, the Milky Way, the chemical composition of dreams.  Foulquiere’s voice is serene and seeking, poking tentatively into the upper register, testing the boundaries.  Indesc seems short for incandescent, but refers to the Latin index, while the opening “Vallis” refers to a valley or hollow.  Exzald S. is in the hollow, taking inventory, as the album begins.  Each track brings a new revelation.

“Zeph,” one of the early singles, is also one of the album’s most active tracks, bursting again and again into fragmented light, beats splayed about the atmosphere before sinking under their own weight.  The artist’s voice descends to a near whisper, then soars.  “Lorica” is even more upfront, a declaration, the title referring to body armor, which one can imagine the artist donning piece by piece as she battles unseen forces.

But the album ~ like recovery ~ is not a straight line.  Some pieces are gossamer thin, others so dense one is unable to count the layers.  which in some cases exceed a hundred.  Exzald S is not peeling an onion; she is constructing one from scratch.  “Garden” is the turning point, when seeds turn to new growth, syllables to song, if only for a phrase, somewhere between your wounds and your hearts.  In this moment, Exzald S. exposes her vulnerability and displays her strength.

On the cover, the artist is engulfed in chaos, yet her expression is calm.  This feeling is transferred to the music, Foulquiere’s voice steady through churning electronics, her index finally complete. (Richard Allen)