The French-Swiss septet explores the sound of traditional instruments in the form of minimalist trance repetitions, creating a heavy, endless sonic procession.
Many instruments are here, but La Tène plays restrained, minimalist music, often closer to microtonal music than airy folk compositions. They strain the sound; they do not attack with a wall of noise. Their music takes the form of a trance-like march, and the enlarged instrumentation adds color, multiplies layers, and enhances the mood of mystery.
What shines through from this piece is heaviness and decisiveness, but at the same time, an unwritten regret, a verité suffering, and a statement: let’s play endlessly at all costs. La Tène takes its name from a Swiss village where an archaeological site was located in the mid-19th century – at one point; this name became an eponym for archaeological culture. The band plays today but reaches back into history. It grinds the sound of traditional instruments and their possibilities, building from them an endless procession of everyday life, repetition, and the steady, steady weight of everyday struggles.
Read: Radiowe Centrum Kultury Ludowej (polish only)
