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Thierry Zaboitzeff — Artefacts
(Bandcamp no#, 2026, DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2026-04-22

Artefacts Cover art

Artefacts is the latest offering by Thierry Zaboitzeff, composer, cellist, bassist. and much more. The five tracks at hand are mostly instrumental with the exception of the closer, and clock in at  a little over 28 minutes total. Zaboitzeff does it all himself, playing all the instruments including piano, guitars, bass, cello, synthesizer, samplers, programming, and percussion, and this time around there is no connection with any modern dance scores or anything like that; these five pieces come direct from the composer’s imagination, along with a lifetime of compositional experience, offering elements of art rock, neo-classical, and heady experimentation, with gentle flashes of color and subtle nuanced brilliance. Taken as a whole, the music here tends to be dark and pensive to a degree, but not overwhelmingly so, with plenty of luminous flashes of brilliance, even if subtle at times. The nine-minute opener “Inexorabilis” launches into a whirlwind of mystery, with some found sounds and vocal samples under a highlighting wandering organ figure, but picks up a strong drum cadence around two minutes in that serves as an undergirding for the ongoing waterfall of sounds, until additional percussion steers the piece into a more neo-classical direction with sampled horns and synths to create even more mystery as the piece proceeds into its closing phase. By contrast, “Looking for an Open Path” is far more explorative, its free-roaming spirit and lack of regular cadence make it unique and beautiful, all using pretty much the same palette of sounds as the opener; its wandering spirit, dreamy nature and frequent wholesale changes in direction make it seem a lot longer than the mere seven-and-a-half minutes that it is. Two shorter, but by no means any less significant cuts, precede the closer “Redrawing Reality,” a very fitting title, which begins in stormy spacious territory guided by a repeating organ sequence, before the piece settles in with  some vocals and vocal samples that make for a most interesting way to close this set. All taken, a most engaging and immersive set.

Filed under: New releases, 2026 releases

Related artist(s): Thierry Zaboitzeff

More info
http://thierryzaboitzeff.bandcamp.com/album/artefacts

 

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