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Radio ›› Nous perçons les oreilles
1 July 2001
By Naomi Millett in The Wire #209 (UK), July 1, 2001

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“… Canada’s almost unclassifiable duo Jean Derome and Joane Hétu’s appearance was a festival highlight.”

In terms of emotional depth and sheer exuberance, however, Canada’s almost unclassifiable duo Jean Derome and Joane Hétu’s appearance at Subiaco was a festival highlight. Whether expressing rage over political hypocrisy or celebrating the human spirit, the artists’ idiosyncratic melange of French vocals, saxophones and simple melodic instruments communicated a universality of wit and feeling that rendered any language barrier redundant.

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2 January 2000
By Tom Schulte in Perfect Sound (USA), January 2, 2000

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“Two saxophones shriek and two voices, haunting sirens, screech on this duet of dissonance pairing of pandemonium.”

Two saxophones shriek and two voices, haunting sirens, screech on this duet of dissonance pairing of pandemonium. Jean Derome and Joane Hétu are obviously improvising here in a tradition employed by Eugene Chadbourne, Derek Bailey, etc. Abrasive and subversive, these wicked wizards of wail put first a gateway, the lead two songs Nous perçons and Le poinçon. At this entrance they stand, a two-headed Cerebus barking fear into the fainthearted. Inside a rugged landscape of occasional firm footing gibes unexpectedly way to brass-barbed, jagged promontories. Instead of liner notes, the disc is decorated with telling child drawings of dynamic and jarring contrast. Simultaneously, Ambiances Magnétiques has released solo discs (of equal challenge) on each bizarre musician. 3/5

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1 June 1999
By Caroline Kraabel in Resonance #7:2 (UK), June 1, 1999

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The combination of sax and voice is a hard one, particularly in a duo — it reminds me of something Raymond Chandler had Philip Marlow say about a client’s interior decoration "The curtains were white and the carpet was cream — the curtains made the carpet look dirty and the carpet made the curtains look washed out" Nous perçons les oreilles is a duo CD with both musicians playing alto sax and voice (Derome also plays various small instruments) and consists of a series of live improvisations recorded mostly in 1996, some as long ago as 1994 — and it is a brave attempt at something quite difficult Hétu and Derome use interesing and diverse techniques, and lots of humour, but rarely transcend the impression of an eclecuc series of varied sounds with uansinons often accomplished via mimicry Jonquille is an exception to this, with both musicians gently and soberly reciting a list of unconnected words, but even then, just as I relax into the weird hypnotic simplicity of it, a jaw harp breaks the spell and introduces an instrumental and vocal improvisation — which diminishes, rather than enhances, the preceding section. Perhaps the fact that Hétu and Derome have been or are a couple is part of the reason for a shamelessness about sounds which works better with the vocals: a playful intimacy that allows all sorts of silly voices to come out — on Léa, a vocal duet this is paracularly effective they seem to be playing a game of verbal tag and mockery. This impression of a kind of mocking recurs often elsewhere when Derome breaks off and plays kazoo or whist e or other petits instruments a vent, but is less successful in these cases, because the transitions are too marked and seem kitsch without being genuinely funny. The eclectic and fast-changing nature of many of the rest of these improvisations, and the fact that some were recorded in 1994, made me wonder whether a pertinent question about improvising now is no longer so much. "How to change as quickly as possible?" and include as much as possible?" as "How to improvise without changing?" Listening to this CD I often wished that the players would stick a bit instead of twisong.

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1 May 1999
By Richard Moule in Exclaim! (Canada), May 1, 1999

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“… vocal and instrumental gestures that seem to celebrate the sheer power and poetry of the human voice.”

Equally as playful and no less challenging and complex are these series of improvised vocal and alto sax duets from this couple. Though, that doesn’t by half begin to explain what happens here. Alternating between alto sax and voice, Hétu and Derome indulge in some highly dextrous and hilarious sonic explorations. Hétu slides masterfully between primal grunts, groans, ahs, ehs and other gutteral throat twisters and brilliantly constructed word rhythms, while Derome accompanies her on sax and other wind instruments. There is a raw spontaneity but also slapstick quality to these vocal and instrumental gestures that seem to celebrate the sheer power and poetry of the human voice.

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1 March 1999
By Frank Rubolino in Cadence #25:3 (USA), March 1, 1999

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“The use of voice to complement music has become standard fare with Derome , and he and Hétu use it intelligently…”

Joane Hétu (alto and voice) and Jean Derome (alto, small instruments, percussion, and wice) appear as a duet on Nous perçons les oreilles (Ambiances magnétiques). This time, the music is the more dominant influence, with the vocals adding color and texture to the fierce alto screams rather than acting as a story-telling device. Hétu again uses scatting vocal utterances in conjunction with the music, but she devotes equal concentration on this set to the alto that she blows with reckless abandon on many of the selections (Nous Perçons / Le Poinçon / Jonquille / Les osselets / Lea / Les oreilles / L’enclume et le marteau / L’étrier / La ouate / Les orteils / Ça va pas). The use of voice to complement music has become standard fare with Derome (he scripted all the text), and he and Hétu use it intelligently on this date as an alternate for additional instrumentation. Their voices interact with their instruments in staccato fashion to provide a diverse sound stage of irregular beat and freedom playing. When the two are in tandem on alto, they play either a cat and mouse sound game or blow intensely in freeform style. The cacophony of the horns melts into screechy vocal outbursts or guttural tones to yield strange but musical results. This recording is unusual but certainly excitinq and original.

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1 March 1999
By Pierre Durr in Revue & Corrigée #39 (France), March 1, 1999

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“une confrontation ludique et presque innocente de saxophones alto, de divers instruments à vents, de percussions, de voix à l’image d’une iconographie enfantine.”

Justement, c’est le registre qu’a choisi — encore elle — Joane Hétu dans un second opus en compagnie de Jean Derome (par ailleurs compagnon de Castor et compagnie) Nous perçons les oreilles s’inscrit en effet dans la suite logique des récents enregistrements bruitistes de Lussier / Tétreault ou de Labrosse / Mori / Tétreault, avec une approche nettement plus acoustique: ici ni échantillonnages, ni tourne-disques, mais une confrontation ludique et presque innocente de saxophones alto, de divers instruments à vents (appeaux, etc.), de percussions, de voix à l’image d’une iconographie enfantine.

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Other texts in

  • Audion #42 (UK), March 1, 2000
  • Margen #16 (Spain), January 1, 1999
  • Informator “Ars” 2 #24 (Poland), November 1, 1998
  • Ici Montréal (Québec), October 8, 1998
  • The Gazette (Québec), March 17, 1990

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