Littoral States is a shifting, reciprocal album that explores affinities beyond time, place, tradition and medium. Montreal musicians Sarah Pagé and Patrick Graham employ a unique array of instruments (including harp, bass koto, sarangi, percussion, waterphone, hamon and electronics) to evoke abstracted textures from deep within the Anthropocene. Working in close collaboration with Brussels-based visual artist Tamar Kasparian, the project hangs together as six interwoven sonic compositions accompanied by beautifully integrated artwork. The wordless music carries the listener through a series of heady atmospheres, balancing a sense of urgency with an open-ended reflexivity. Littoral States is rooted in a profound sense of affinity, awe and anguish for the natural world.
In the early depths of pandemic isolation, Sarah Pagé and Patrick Graham struck up a creative correspondence. The pair quickly realized that, not only did they both hail from the same small suburb of Montreal, but their musical journeys were also rich with uncanny coincidence. Beyond having the same childhood music teacher and attending the same schools, from primary up to the university level, both players have extensively explored Japanese classical forms and Irish folk music. They each have long histories of improvised music and share a penchant for acoustic instrumentation with electronic treatments. Considering their geographic overlap and niche musical journeys, it seemed incredible that they’d yet to collaborate, let alone meet.
The aesthetic chemistry was instantaneous. Littoral States began with Graham sharing his exploratory percussion tracks, which Pagé would then overlay with evocative harp and koto. These sketches were developed out of a correspondence between the artists, each sharing works-in-progress as they took inspiration from one another and deepened their collective visions.
The resulting album holds several complex realities with aplomb. The music expands, contracts, knots and unfurls itself, never feeling forced or belaboured. Close listening may reveal underlying hints of known musical forms, but overall Littoral States manages to recreate the inimitable feeling of listening to a broader world. One can practically hear the rolling crackle of a wildfire, the etching of a river’s eddy into rock, branches creaking in the pre-dawn; the earth as it is gripped by new roots and tumbled by machinery. The way in which the album’s distinctive textures create momentum, it’s hard to tell whether the storm is coming or going.
