Here I present my project in solo, with my electric guitar and some pedal effects, some of them modified or fabricated by me.
“Solo” – autoproduction – 2016
This is the first solo disc for guitarist and composer Olivier Jambois. All tracks have been recorded live in the studio, except for the last one, which is a collage of several improvisations. Some of the tracks are composed, focusing on specific musical ideas – melodic, timbral, textural, variation, and/or harmonic. Also, Jambois has performed with looping in some of his compositions, where others are just by himself.
1. x2m
x2m stands “for multiplied by 2 to the power m”, with m= 1 or -1. The loop at the start was recorded using an octaver effect unit, that allows – by turning it on or off – to change on demand the sound an octave higher or lower. In terms of frequency, it means multiply it by 2 or by 1/2 (i.e. dividing by 2). The using of the octaver effect unit inspired me for the title, as when m=1, 21=2, so we shift an octave higher, and when m=-1, 2-1=1/2, we shift an octave lower.
2. Expansion (Increasing curvature)
This piece is inspired by the general relativity theory, and expresses the relation between space-time deformation and matter-energy density. In this piece I am using a looper to record a sequence of about 20 seconds. Starting from few isolated events, at each loop, I am overdubbing more and more interventions, which gives the feeling of a growing texture. When a certain density is reached, I am superimposing a contrasting texture made of clear chords, by which rhythm is accelerated.
3. La suite de Fibonacci
The first notes of this piece are written following the Fibonacci sequence. This sequence is defined such that one term is equal to the sum of the two preceding ones. If the first two terms are 0 and 1, so we have the sequence 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, etc… This very famous sequence leads to the golden ratio, the “divine proportion” used in art, or in probability calculations. In this piece the sequence was used to define the intervals between the first 8 notes of the piece. The rest of the piece was written freely.
4. Les gentils oscillateurs
This is an improvised piece using a wood stick (the one to eat asian food).
5. El misterio de la masa
I wrote this piece after hearing on radio that scientific team corroborated Higg’s boson theory, an elementary particle proposed in the standard model of physics. It allows us to understand why some particles get mass and others don’t.
6. Marmelade
is a melodic piece.
7. Gedankenexperiment
is an improvised piece.
8. Eleanor Rugby
is a personal version of a song of a famous English band.
9. Straight circle
The title is inspired by the loop that appears in the middle of the piece, which sounds cyclic to me.
10. Par temps de pluie
Is an improvised piece.
11. Le remix-tère de la masse
This last piece is a “collage” of different small improvisations I made. Different fragments where edited, cut and superimposed.
Some videos:
Some pictures:
Olivier Jambois Solo 
