France Jobin –

i8u – 10^-33cm (MP3 by Room40) 2008

Touching Extremes
Massimo Ricci

Address: http://www.room40.org

i8u – 10^-33cm (MP3 by Room40) 2008

A part of the spat of new releases on Room40 over late 2008 and early 2009, this offering is produced by Montreal-based sound designer France Jobin, best known for her conceptually mind boggling sound experiments as I8U. This latest work, 10-33 cm, focuses on string theory, an attempt to adapt these tenets of quantum physics to a sound context.

Being unfortunately shackled to an intellect utterly bereft of mathematical knowledge, I have no way of interpreting the conceptual basis for the piece, but Jobin’s skill as a sound designer is undeniable. Jobin creates a seven-part, 46 minute long universe of mainly sine-tone based sound worlds that are remarkable in their focus and detail. Each track is assigned a different ‘type’ of string and the disparity between the contents of each section is marked. The most beautiful moments in the work come at the very beginning, where tiny, high frequency sounds move in and out of each other and take on a delicate form. Massive arrays of sounds subsequently provide counterpoint to this initial moment, but ultimately don’t match the atmosphere that it creates.

The most remarkable element of this release is the ability for such intellectual, difficult music to become as evocative, even on an emotional level, as much of 10-33 cm is. A criticism may be, for all of its intricacies, these experiments occasionally lapse into over-repetition, becoming reduced to its subject matter, rather than finding identity through the medium by which the concept is being expressed – sound. However, as a whole, the suite is tight and well constructed, finding moments of great intensity and poise.

Room40 are known for managing the compromise between the intellectual aesthetic of this corner of experimental music and its ability to ascertain a human reaction to it, beyond the arguably dry conceptual origins that often mark the associated releases. I8U is an example of this success; above all, a demonstration of the complexity of Jobin’s craft, an approach to sound design that is difficult to fault, in its strong intent and flawless execution.

-Marcus Whale
Address: http://www.room40.org

i8u – 10^-33cm (MP3 by Room40) 2008
Two “lower-case” recordings by Asher and I8U make natural additions to ROOM40’s discography.

i8u’s 10-33 cm is as resonant as Asher’s Landscape Studies but wholly different in timbre. Inspired by ideas associated with String Theory, Canadian sound artist France Jobin (aka i8u) creates seven crystalline webs of shimmering, glistening tones and textures. Apparently, the measure 10-33 cm represents the theoretical size of the strings that constitute the universe, and, as Jobin explains,”Resonance is the vibrational pattern which determines what kind of particle the string is, and thus the type of particle is the movement of the string and the energy associated with this movement.” Don’t worry: listening to 10-33 cm requires no degree in Physics; one can experience it as pure sound divorced from its theoretical underpinning. Broached on purely sonic terms, the recording offers a wide-ranging series of explorations into microsound textures, rhythms, and tonalities with each of the spatial re-creations pursuing different pathways associated with the originating concept. Comprised of forty-six minutes of reverberant drones, rumbling tones, faint clicks, and softly crackling static, 10-33 cm could just as easily be a Line release as one from ROOM40.
Textura

i8u – 10^-33cm (MP3 by Room40) 2008

La artista sonora de Montreal France Jobin explora en “10-33 cm” la Teoría de las Cuerdas como primera fuente sonora. Esto trata del “patrón de vibración que define el tipo de partes que compone la cuerda es y de esta forma el tipo de parte que es el movimiento de la cuerda y la energía asociada con dicho movimiento”, en palabras de esta artista.
La música está en la frontera entre el silencio, zumbido y las partes granulares del sonido. Ciertos pasajes suenan como improvisaciones con una diminuta percusión a través de errores de lectura digital, pero la mayor parte del disco son drones con emergentes sutiles melodías.

-Guillermo Escudero

loop

Montreal’s based sound artist France Jobin explores on “10-33 cm” the String Theory as the primary source material. This deals with a “vibration pattern which defines what kind of particle the string is, and thus the type of particle is the movement of the string and the energy associated with this movement”, in her words.
The music blurs the border between silence, hum, and grainy particles of sound. Certain passages sound like improvisations with a diminutive percussion through glitches, but most of the disc are drones with emerging subtle melodies.

-Guillermo Escudero

Address: http://www.room40.org

i8u – 10^-33cm (MP3 by Room40) 2008

Another conceptually provocative piece from Canada’s France Jobin, operating under the name “i8u”. “10.33cm” purports to be directly influenced by String Theory, a kind of Music of the Spheres for the New Age, directly associated with the relative sound frequencies of the strings that make up the physical universe. Although largely unproven, and still theoretical, the concept of String Theory has captivated the minds and imaginations of many creative types, and here, Jobin tests the theory in sound.

What materializes is a complex and densely worked set of 7 pieces, named String 1, String 2, String 3, etc. each piece corresponding to a set of parameters initiated by the artist, relating to each string type. From this somewhat ambitious point of departure, we are treated to a rangy set of works that encompass everything from the shimmering tonalities of the opening piece,(that opens with a blister of static, the sonic equivalent of the background radiation of the universe) to the glistening, expansive ambiences as exemplified on String 3, and the more sharply focussed elements of String 2 and String 6, where Jobin systematically takes the listener on a series of sonically intriguing transitions and deformations, taking in the lower end of the auditory spectrum, with rich, reverberant cascades of sound. As an attempt at realising a theoretical concept , then perhaps 10.33cm is still in the elementary stages, but with all of the theoretical gesturing aside, this is a masterfully wrought set of minimalist ambiences, deep in scope, and ambitious in its execution, a technically perfect series that you (like myself) will return to again and again. Excellent.

-BGN.

Address: http://www.room40.org

i8u – 10^-33cm (MP3 by Room40) 2008

We haven’t heard lately of France Jobin, who works since many years as I8U. The seven tracks on this download only release all deal with the string theory, which is one of those scientific things about the Universe which I never understood – like I never understood Stephen Hawking either, not even his public friendly book about time. Perhaps Jobin does better, and the pieces here are build from sine wave like particles that are being processed in the digital realm. It brings us seven pieces of a highly microsound origin. Buzzing bass sound, high pitched peeping sounds, but never ‘loud’ and certainly never ‘noise’. This is text book microsound material, think Richard Chartier, Bernard Gunter or Roel Meelkop, but I8U certainly a strong voice of her own. Quite modern ambient, and very nice at that.

-(FdW)

Address: http://www.room40.org