Diving into ‘Grey’, we decided to clear our minds from any preconceived beliefs, in the hope of being able to truly connect with such a nuanced, boundary-pushing album. The listening experience is aleatory, yet highly hypnotising and evocative. Building a peculiar and experimental aural universe, the record gently pushes the listeners into Yves Pilon’s malleable creativity, a place where sound design is not really sound design; rather, a fully formed language, a universal communication medium evoking a plethora of sensations and feelings.
Whichever way you look at it, ‘Grey’ is a highly unusual offering; from the quirky and avant-garde-flavoured production to the pointillistic elements in it, the album oscillates between conventional beat-driven episodes and more challenging, sui generis moments steeped in understated euphoria and robotic fever-dreams. Hailing from Montreal, Pilon seems to be slowly evolving into a more complete composer, shifting from abstract soundscapes to beefier panoramas.
There’s a lot going on here; part industrial, part glitches and part granular textures, ‘Grey’ feels truly digital, in an era that seems to favour warmer analogue tones. Bouncing between melodic material and foley-like effects, the album is hard to predict, yet it doesn’t leave us disappointed; rather, we are enriched, as Pilon challenges us all with seven potent tracks. Described by Yves himself as “a statement of identity through sound”, ‘Grey’ will likely not appeal to everyone out there – yet, the chosen ones will find it incredibly rewarding.
Recommended! Discover ‘Grey’ on Spotify:
