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Inclusion Principle — Clarino Oscura
(Discus Music 9009DL, 2025, DL)

Inclusion Principle — Quantised Entanglement
(Discus Music 9013DL, 2025, DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-06-07

Clarino Oscura Cover artQuantised Entanglement Cover art

In my review of their earlier release, The Call of a Crumbling World, I mentioned that it would be the first of a series of Inclusion Principle recordings scheduled for release in 2025; now a few months later, Clarino Oscura and Quantised Entanglement are out, and they couldn’t be more different from one another. As a refresher, Inclusion Principle is the improvising duo of Hervé Perez and Martin Archer, and they have been recording and releasing music together for twenty years — their first album, The Inclusion Principle, was attributed to Perez and Archer, and released in 2006, and all of the recordings since then are attributed to Inclusion Principle. Between them, they play modular synthesizers, organ, bass synth, clarinet, shortwave, all manner of saxophones, laptop (field recordings, beats, percussives, electronics), shakuhachi, harmonica, and just about anything else within reach, which makes for a mighty rich sonic palette to create with.

Clarino Oscura is a single 30-minute improvisation that wanders through numerous sections as it proceeds, much like a conversation that wanders from one topic to the next, the electronics in various forms seems to be everpresent, while the bass synth and various woodwinds come and go as they please, along with sounds of radio static and field recordings, birds, buzzing bugs, bells, occasional drum cadences that quickly appear out of nowhere and fade, rumbling, electronic echoes and all kinds of incidental happenstance — truly a magical potion of curious sonic events, but it’s best not to spend a lot of energy analyzing what you are hearing, and instead just go with the flow and immerse yourself. It’s over all too soon — 30 minutes goes by pretty fast, though there are recognizable signposts in the ongoing sonic tapestry that let the listener know where they are along the timeline of the piece. When the shakuhachis echo through the distant canyons, you’ll know you are in the final minutes.

Quantised Entanglement enters with a powerful drum presence with “Fire Dance,” much like a war stomp flanked by saxes and other winds that almost sound like they are using guitar fuzz effects on them, but then again it could just be some out of the ordinary synth sounds. More woodwinds come out for “Interlude I — Commensurability” while the intense drum cadence of the opener goes away, making a beautifully melodic piece that I suspect was built up slowly through layering, making perhaps the most appealing cut of the five. “Twisted Mansion” brings back the drums, though the cadence is a bit more subtle and evolutionary, mixed with found sounds, synths, electronics, and other sonic mysteries across nine and a half minutes. Each of the pieces here are discrete and don’t crossfade into each other. With “Interlude II — No No Noh” we launch with synths and electronics plotted against low frequency rumbling until the shakuhachi appears and additional sounds fill out the curious swirling sonic backdrop. Album closer “Core Wave” has an almost random beat that appears and disappears with chaotic regularity, with saxes and harmonica fading in and out of the mix, other sounds drift into the cosmic swirl as well, along with some very creative mixing. Both Quantised Entanglement and Clarino Oscura are essential listening, each representing different sides of what Inclusion Principle is about.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Martin Archer, Inclusion Principle

More info
http://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/clarino-oscura-9011dl-2025
http://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/quantised-entanglement-9013dl-2025

 

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