Tag Archives: InFiné

Switched On – Gaspar Claus: CELLS (InFiné)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Gaspar Claus delivers his first artist album since Tancade, released five years ago. The cello may be his main instrument, but Claus works with Basile3 to use it as a departure point, with electronics intervening as appropriate to create a host of original and intriguing soundworlds.

When speaking of the recent single release Ecstasy, one of the standout points of the album, Claus speaks of how “These sounds were transformed, put through machines, digitized, stretched, sometimes metamorphosed into synthetic textures or even percussion. So it’s not a meeting between cello and electronics, but rather a story of -transformation.”

With Basile3, Claus worked in a custom-built studio alongside producer Basile3, the press release describing their output as “an album shaped by friction and breath, moving between intimate memory, desire, and vital energy. Driven by a fertile tension between the cello and its digital transformation, the record unfolds a shifting sonic landscape where organic fervour meets electronic metamorphosis.”

What’s the music like?

Highly charged. Claus wrings every bit of emotion out of his cello, but also uses it imaginatively when building the electronics, so that on occasion it sounds like a full orchestra.

World of Idols is a solemn but richly coloured opening, making a powerful impression with its broad and slightly sorrowful melody, not to mention the fulsome bass section. Ecstasy on the other hand is brightly coloured and adds beats effectively. Amour constrictor (Fugue) is also a lively number, light hearted and brilliantly realised with its ticking figurations. Meanwhile Chrysalis is evocative, its polka-like dance a proper foot tapper.

Does it all work?

It does, to the point where it is difficult to comprehend this is music born from the cello – Claus covers all voices in his use of polyphony. The pioneering efforts are even better with repeated listening.

Is it recommended?

Yes, without hesitation. An effective, stimulating and deeply moving piece of work.

For fans of…Julia Kent, Sarah Neufeld, Manu Delago, Olafur Arnalds

Listen / Buy

Published post no.3,066 – Monday 2 November 2026

New music – Arandel: L’Heure du Loup (Edit) (InFiné)

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posted by Ben Hogwood, mostly with text from the press release

Arandel returns with L’Heure du Loup (Edit Version), the first single from his forthcoming album Cosmogonies du Silence, due out on InFiné on 22 January 2027.

Inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s Hour of the Wolf, the track evokes the unsettling hours between 3 and 5 a.m., when fears and nightmares emerge.

Built around an improvisation on a small Baroque organ, the piece opens with an uneasy pulse before gradually unfolding into a powerful instrumental journey, driven by the drumming of Louis Delorme (Air, Sébastien Tellier, Katerine).

Moving from tension towards light, L’Heure du Loup offers a first glimpse into an album exploring the relationship between silence, memory and absence.

As you will hear below, Arandel gradually adds new colours to complement Delorme’s fluid drumming:

Created over a period of ten years, the upcoming album explores the relationship between silence, memory and absence. Combining electronic experimentation with acoustic instruments and echoes of Baroque music, it features contributions from Ben Shemie, vocalist and guitarist of Canadian band Suuns; Moroccan singer-songwriter Meryem Aboulouafa; British singer-songwriter and pianist Douglas Dare; and French actor Félix Maritaud (120 BPM).

Published post no.3,046 – Tuesday 13 October 2026

New music – Gaspar Claus: Cells (InFiné)

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by Ben Hogwood, incorporating text from the press release

Relentlessly exploring deeply moving sonic territories, Gaspar Claus — cellist, composer, and producer — has followed a highly stimulating path since the early 2010s.

From one creation to the next, he has forged a singular, primarily instrumental language at the crossroads of multiple worlds and artistic encounters: his father, flamenco guitarist Pedro Soler; international indie rock figures such as Bryce Dessner (The National), Casper Clausen (Efterklang), and Sufjan Stevens; Japanese noise icon Keiji Haino; or closer to him, French electronic producer Rone; or songwriter Malik Djoudi, to name but a few.

The album bears a very short title, leaving — like its musical content — maximum space for the listener’s imagination. The term evokes a fundamental biological unit, a place of meditation or confinement, a computing unit, a component of a social organism, as well as the three letters that form the name of his instrument of choice: the cello.

“I like the idea that each track is a musical cell, both autonomous and connected to the others. However, the album is not based on any particular concept. Music, especially instrumental music, doesn’t necessarily need a narrative or discourse imposed on it.”

Gaspar’s music takes the form of contemporary chamber music, deeply marked by the American minimalist wave and threaded with subtle echoes of traditional music from the Mediterranean basin, as well as the laboratory-like experimentation of modern electronic music. Fully unfolding in the silent folds of the night, it exudes a rare emotional density driven by intellectual rigor, without ever slipping into ostentation.

“I had my dream studio built in Banyuls-sur-Mer, where I live part of the year, because I couldn’t manage to work in Paris,” the musician explains. “I spent about a year and a half there working on Cells. The creative process was complicated. The album resisted a lot before taking shape. I went through doubts and questioning, even moments where I considered giving up.”

Clear and direct, with no audible trace of that difficult gestation, the final result — seemingly flowing effortlessly — appears all the more striking. To overcome this long period of inner turbulence, Gaspar Claus relied on a steadfast credo: “It’s simply precious to make music.”

Published post no.3,011 – Tuesday 8 September 2026

New music – Gaspar Claus: Désir des astres (InFiné)

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by Ben Hogwood, incorporating text from the press release

Gaspar Claus has announced a new album, CELLS, featuring collaborations with Matt Elliott (The Third Eye Foundations) and producer Basile3. It will be released by InFiné on 25 September, but has been prefaced by two singles. The second of these, Désir des astres, is available now:

On the track, Gaspar said, “This theme comes from music written for a documentary. It ultimately wasn’t used: the cello often carries that melancholic sweetness so unique to it, and it weighed the film down a bit. So I dug it up, reworked it, and pushed it towards an almost epic boldness. It’s an ideal way to kick off the journey this album offers.”

The title of the piece also plays with the etymology of the word “désir”, which shares the same root as the word “sidéral”, placing the track in a resonance that is both intimate and cosmic.

It is a passionate piece, played with searching expression by the cellist – whose accents bring a humid, almost Mediterranean flavour to the track. I was reminded, in a good way, of the music of Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo.

Désir des astres follows the single release of the album’s opening track, World of Idols, in edit form:

CELLS will be released on Biovinyl LP and Digipack CD (all-paper packaging), with all details on the Bandcamp link below:

Published post no.2,905 – Tuesday 2 June 2026

Switched On – Nathan Fake: Evaporator (InFiné)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Nathan Fake’s electronica has found a new home, with Evaporator his first album released on the InFiné label.

It is an instinctive work, written during the summer of 2024 and wrapped up in just six weeks. He describes it as “airy daytime music,” which is “not overtly confrontational electronic club music, it’s more accessible.” Continuing the instinctive approach, Evaporator was mostly recorded in single takes on a Cubase set up, with Fake employing synths and even a toy Casio keyboard on Yucon, which has become one of his most treasured compositions.

What’s the music like?

Evaporator engages both the mind and the feet in an easy and frequently appealing way. On many occasions it promises the joy of dancing, but there are moments where Fake’s music is aimed straight at the mind, specifically in removing tension and providing musical company.

Both elements combine in the loping beats and lush textures of You’ll Find A Way, while Fake’s clever trick of employing two paces at once works on the implied Euro riffing of Hypercube, where a distinctive five-note rhythm is punched out, and Aiwa, with its slow beats but busy percussion. Yucon has real presence, as well as the childlike simplicity from the toy keyboard, while Bialystok is really strong, led by a powerful and almost primeval kick drum.

Later on in the album, two collaborations make their mark. The weather-beaten Baltasound, with Dextro, appears to be a portrait of a Shetland settlement. On it, the pair create a massive pillow of sound out of which emerges a beat of reassuring depth. Orbiting Meadows features another good friend, Clark, and hints at music heard further afield, with mysterious bells above a broad canvas. Saving one of the very best tracks for last, Slow Yamaha is a beauty, a loping disco number with a rolling beat that works for all of its nine minutes.

Does it all work?

It does. Nathan Fake’s freedom of expression is key here, and the combination of intimacy and wide-open, elemental sound pictures are managed in a really satisfying way.

Is it recommended?

It is. This is another very strong addition to the Nathan Fake canon, another winner from Norfolk. The instinctive approach suits him well!

Listen / Buy

Published post no.2,818 – Tuesday 3 March 2026