Listen/Watch: Armel Dupas - "Loup Solitaire"

Photo by Aleksandr Balakin

Since meeting French pianist/composer Armel Dupas completely by chance, I have been taken by his unique approach towards music making in general, originally trained as a jazz pianist and enlisted as a common collaborator in a number of trios, quartets, film music composer, and touring musician, Dupas' first full length album Upriver presented interesting development of a style that remains distinctly indefinable. A blend of electronic and acoustic sounds that never overwhelm Dupas' gifts for delightful melodic songcraft or the seeming ease of his playing, it was a testament to Dupas' ability to conjure music of a sort of a romantic or impressionist mode without being wholly classical.

But Upriver was simply a beginning of sorts and since then Dupas has released two other albums in A Night Walk performed with Mathieu Penot and Kenny Ruby , and Broderies composed by Lisa Cat-Berro but recorded and arranged by Dupas. All the while developing a series of modern day salon concerts Dupas calls Home Piano Live that sees Dupas' touring and broadcasting these concerts through Facebook and Instagram Live. 

The success of these concerts have no doubt had their effect on Dupas' creative process and the result is Automne 2019 Languère Song(s), a solo album recorded live in the garden at his home in France in one-take, and without any traces of electronic experimentation of Upriver or A Night Walk. "Loup Solitaire", the first single of sorts from his upcoming album, is a dreamy reverie not entirely unlike the introspective nocturnes that composed A Night Walk, the key difference being Dupas opting for absolute intimacy. There's no layers of synths, no other performers, just Dupas' whose melodies seem to tumble out of him unencumbered. "Loup Solitaire" is a beguiling piece that steadily builds on itself - slowly unfurling, Dupas' timing is truly what makes the piece work: his rubato passages creating a sense of a conversation among itself. 

While initial establishing himself as one of the rare artists able to seamless blend electronic and organic sounds, Automne 2019 Laugère Song(s), offers a different version of Armel Dupas, one that thrives in live solo performance and one that few people get to see if they're not based in Europe where Dupas' tends to tour. In a way with both Home Piano Live and Laugère Song(s), is giving listeners a chance to experience Dupas' music in a brand new way, stripped back and intimate but still innovatively crafted and brimming with the confidence of a skilled player with a clear artistic vision. 

Automne 2019 Laugère Song(s) is out November 15th on Dupas' Upriver Records. Pre-order is available now. 

Listen: Armel Dupas - "A Night Walk"

photo by Fiona Grimmeison

When a chance meeting brought me in contact with French pianist/composer Armel Dupas, my reward was the introduction to his wonderful solo debut Upriver. While he's more or less been touring behind that record since its 2015 release, he most recently announced its follow up A Night Walk. The record finds him assembling his touring band mates, multi-instrumentalists Mathieu Penot and Kenny Ruby, into a trio for the inaugural release of Dupas' new label imprint Upriver Records.

Despite his training as a jazz pianist, the most curious thing about Dupas' music both on Upriver and on the "A Night Walk", the eponymous first single from the upcoming record, is the fluidity of genre. Dupas' touch remains as subtle as ever and he's found collaborators that manage to engage with that same gentle touch when it would be easy to blow it up for a bigger sound. Penot who plays drums on the record and Ruby who serves on bass, help Dupas' to illustrate his veritable nocturne. Whether through the percussion or the swirl of synths (which Penot and Ruby are both skilled players of), there's a pervasive sense of introspective quiet. It's a walk to clear one's head. On "A Night Walk" Dupas' continues to blur the lines between organic and electronic sounds with an ease that is commendable. The piece, luckily, does not stay at the same dynamic. Though never losing either the effortless ease or sense of calm, the trio to push towards a sensible climax that sees the band becoming more involved with each other. Dupas also makes impeccable use of a more or less sudden switch up as everything comes to a seemingly finite conclusion a little more than halfway through. A steady synth hum is the only indicator that the piece isn't complete and when the band return - they're operating at peak energy and in a blissful key change. It's a piece that could easily go on for ages like the New Age drone in a spa but that use of the key change in all of it's glorious, triumphant nature signals a complete and deeply felt ending. It's a hell of an introduction to the Dupas' trio and curiously enough the track that Dupas elected to end the album with so everything leading up to this point is very much up in the air. Lucky for us, there's not too long of a wait before the rest of A Night Walk is available.   



A Night Walk, the first record from Armel Dupas' Upriver Records featuring Mathieu Penot and Kenny Ruby is out October 20th.

Pitstop: Armel Dupas

My introduction to the music of French pianist/composer Armel Dupas was due to the strange sense of serendipity that's become pretty commonplace in some of my most unexpected and most treasured music discoveries. A matter of happenstance found us sat next to each other at the record release show for Christopher Tignor's latest album Along A Vanishing Plane. At the bar with time to kill, Dupas struck up a conversation that went from stories of how we came to be at this particular concert to our musical interests and endeavors and an easy rapport ensured that we checked in after each set to discuss what we had just witnessed. Earlier in the evening Dupas shared that he was a musician and his interest in the pedal setups and gear of opener Patrick Higgins and of Christopher Tignor had me resolved to check out his music before he even offered information on where to find it.

What struck me immediately about Dupas' music, especially that of his most recent effort Upriver, was an incredible subtlety; a lightness of touch and a refreshingly sense of minimalism. Dupas' melodies are beautiful and free flowing but carry an ephemeral air. His use of electronics is sparse but effective often used for color than an actual composititional focus until its climatic use in "Sometimes I Need Some Time" and the interlude "Epilogue". Though Dupas has trained in jazz, his music transcends the genre while still applying skills and techniques he gained from it. Dupas has cited Nils Frahm as an influence but at times on Upriver, he more recalls Japanese pianist/composer Mashashi Hamauzu and his impressionistic lilt. Like Hamauzu, Dupas makes incredible use of space and silence as his melodies expand out like questions confidently asked and patiently awaiting their answer. The album effortlessly flows from one piece to another but not without each making a noteable impression. From sprightly opener "Les Plaines De Mazerolles" to the only vocal track "Aujord'hui il a Plu" to meditative closer "Upriver" no one song is the same but the album grows in such a way that none seem out of place and its end is wonderfully cathartic.

Armel Dupas is a gifted pianist, yes. But Upriver demonstrates a knack for arranging a rewarding musical voyage that's thrilling both in actual practice and its potential. Dupas evades easy definition while offering a collection of pieces that a brilliantly original. Upriver is a pristinely plotted soundtrack of nocturne's that's enjoyable and exciting in its presentation: effortless in delivery and engaging in its composition.





Armel's debut solo album Upriver is out now on Jazz Village.