Zigzag Pascal Globensky

• 1 Overture / Machu Picchu 04:29
• 2 King's Approaching 03:54
• 3 Processus Mental 00:51
• 4 Fourchette 02:23
• 5 Jour de Paie 01:41
• 6 Ippersoud 01:25
• 7 Dancing Horses 01:00
• 8 Zigzag 02:23
• 9 Marche / Ondée / Danse des caméléons / Ghost Dance 11:59
• 10 Tramway / Station Sigma 03:13
• 11 Approche 04:52
• Total Runtime 38:10

Info for Zigzag

Spanning over a period of about 10 years (2013-2023), this collection of short pieces started as sketches, demos, ideas recorded for later. Some of them were presented to Miriodor (the band I’m a member/founder of), but did not develop.

So I stuck with them, polished them, honed them over time. After letting them sleep for various periods of time, I’d get back to them to work them a bit more, a bit like working on a painting, I guess, before wishing them ‘good night’ again for a while. I was still thinking of them as sketches, but I eventually began to find a certain quaintness about them, a life of their own, in their simplistic expression.

As Brian Eno suggested (among other artists), limitations can be positive and help to be more creative. And it’s been the case for these pieces, which were created using a ultra limited set-up : a computer, a music application, a sound card and a keyboard. On 1/4 of these pieces, I used some snippets of old Miriodor jams, made loops with them, either for rhythm or atmosphere. For the rest of the pieces, I explored most possibilities of the said music application, using “royalty-free” rhythms or sounds, that I edited and treated to fit the needs of the various pieces.

There’s an aspect of collage in a few of them, which was great fun to do. I also liked working in the limitations of the short song format, which did not happen often to me over time. Expressing an idea in a concise yet rich way in about 120 seconds is a nice challenge. And, finally, a lot of work and attention has been put towards the creation of sounds. In a single sound can reside the promise of a song. Creating the sound that you have in mind is like unlocking a code. When it’s done, it’s like a full path unveiling before your very eyes.

I have included my Miriodor compadres on some pieces (four to be exact), with indirect contributions on three of them, and with a direct contribution of Rémi Leclerc, playing drums on ‘Fourchette’ (to my request). I’m happy he obliged! Bernard Falaise and Nicolas Lessard are also there somewhere, yours to find. (Pascal Globensky)

Pascal Globensky, all instruments
Additional musicians:
Bernard Falaise, synthesiser, electric guitar, electric bass (tracks 9, 10)
Rémi Leclerc, drums, percussion, electronics, beatbox (tracks 1, 4, 9, 10)
Nicolas Lessard, electric bass (track 1)

Pascal Globensky
A keyboardist and composer, Pascal Globensky, is the co-founder of Miriodor. He first began playing music when he was a teenager. Teaching himself to play acoustic guitar, by age 18 he was playing both classical and 12 string acoustic. About three years later, he began playing piano; he subsequently began playing both electric and synthesized keyboards. While self-taught as a musician, he studied languages at Université Laval in Québec City and received a B.A. in specialized translation from Concordia University in Montreal. Outside of Miriodor, Globensky works professionally as a technical translator.

In 1979, while living in Quebec City, he co-founded his first band – Miriodor – with multi-instrumentalist (violin, keyboards) François Émond. At the end of 1980, Globensky and Emond recruited 2 other musicians, Remi Leclerc and Paul Dussault, thus marking the debut of Miriodor as a full “band”. Miriodor has remained the primary focus of Globensky’s musical career. The band’s longest-surviving member, Globensky has helped guide this Francophone musical co-op through a move from Quebec City to Montreal, several changes in line-up and instrumentation, 7 full-length releases (co-composed jointly by all band members), and an on-going stylistic evolution that has continued to surprise, delight, and captivate audiences over the band’s 30 year career. Currently, Globensky plays electronic keyboards in the band: a Yamaka KX-88 Midi controller, equipped with various sound modules.

Besides his work co-composing music with Miriodor, Globensky has composed music independently. During the early 1980s, he composed two pieces for the dance company Dansepartout, headquartered in Quebec. He has also composed pieces for personal enjoyment. In 1999, with the rest of Miriodor, Globensky co-composed the music for “Almanach”, a documentary film by Denys Desjardins on the arriving new millennium. The documentary was produced by the National Film Board of Canada.

Bernard Falaise
Composer, improvisor, guitarist, and producer Bernard Falaise is one of the most adventurous and multi-talented genre-defying musicians on Montreal’s current musique actuelle scene. The Montreal native began taking violin lessons when he was age 6, switching to guitar when he was 14 year old. Falaise later studied jazz guitar at Cegep St-Laurent and received a B.A. degree in composition from Montreal University. The first group that he played in ‘professionally’ was The Sleeping Signature, an alternative rock band whose singer, Patrick LaRoque, would much later design the cover of Miridor’s Avanti! In 1993, Falaise joined Montreal’s premiere avant-progressive ensemble, Miriodor, and has remained an integral member of that musical co-operative ever since, as lead guitarist and a co-composer. His first-ever recording of his music career was on Elastic Juggling/ Jongleries Elastiques, Miriodor’s 1995 Cuneiform release; the CD brought international critical acclaim to both Miriodor and Falaise, whose electric guitar energized the band’s sound. Since then, Falaise has recorded on Miriodor’s 3 subsequent Cuneiform releases, and recorded with various groups on more than 30 albums, most released by Ambiance Magnetiques. In addition, he released two solo records on Ambiance Magnetique: 2000’s Do, featuring computer-generated compositions for electric guitars, and 2007’s Clic, which won the Quebec Counsel of Music’s 2008 Opus prize for best New Music/ Musique Actuelle CD.

A true musical polymath who remains unbound by working techniques, categories or genres, Falaise is active as both a improvisor and a composer, and as a performer and a producer. An energetic collaborator, he belongs to a wide range of bands. Besides Miriodor, Falaise is a member of the eclectic avant-rock/world music PapaBoa and the experimental Les Projectionnistes – all three of which also include Remi Leclerc as a member. He also belongs to the improv group, Klaxon Gueule, and has worked on other projects with its leader Michel Coté, as well as with Robert M. Lepage and Frank Martel. In addition, Falaise belongs to L’Ensemble Pierre Labbé, Foodsoon, Mecha Fixes Clocks, Nozen, Barnyard Drama, and The Unexpected. Falaise has also played and/or recorded with guitarist Rene Lussier, André Duchesne’s Diesel, Pierre Cartier, Urbain Desbois, Diane Labrosse, Pierre Cartier, Mélanie Auclair. A member of Le Band de poètes, Falaise collaborated with poet D.Kimm for a 2006 release on Monsieur Fauteux, and performs his own song cycle, Vache qui veut vole.

Besides working as a performer, Falaise is active professionally as a composer, equally adept in such wide-ranging genres as classical / world music/tango/avant rock and beyond. Falaise writes for his own solo projects, co-composes in bands he belongs to like Miriodor, and writes pieces for other ensembles to perform and record. Falaise wrote a composition for the classical tango ensemble Quartango that appeared on their CD Expresso, which won the 1996 Félix Award for world music. He has also written pieces for the Bozzini quartet, Pentaèdre, the all-sax Ensemble Quasar, Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal, Bradyworks, and others. In addition, Falaise has written music for theatre, dance, television, and film, including the music for Robert Lepage’s film “Nô”, co-written with Côté.

In addition, Falaise is in-demand as a record producer. In 1999, he co-produced an album by singer and cellist Jorane, and in 2000, produced and played on La Maline, a critically lauded CD by pop singer and actress Marie-Jo Thério that blended avant-garde music with folk. He since worked as a producer on numerous CDs, for such artists as Frank Martel and Les Païens (from Moncton). Falaise was the producer for Miriodor’s newest CD, Avanti!.

Rémi Leclerc
A drummer/percussionist, composer, and co-founder of several of Montreal’s most beloved avant garde bands, Rémi Leclerc is one of French Canada’s most active drummers, widely respected among the international avant garde. A key fixture on Montreal’s New Music/ musique actuelle scene, featured on many Ambiances Magnétiques releases, Leclerc’s sensitivity and range as a percussionist has also made him in-demand as an accompanist to numerous mainstream Quebecois musicians, including Francophone singer/songwriters and pop stars. Self-taught as a musician, Leclerc has recorded on countless releases and toured internationally with a variety of different artists. Academically, he received degrees in Electrical Engineering from Université Laval and studied Art History at the Université du Québec à Montréal.

Miriodor is Leclerc’s longest-standing, on-going band. He is one of the group’s first members—having joined in late 1980 in Quebec City – and has played on every Miriodor release. Leclerc’s other current projects include membership two famous ensembles lead by trombonist Claude St-Jean : L’Orkestre des Pas Perdus (since 1993, 4 CDs), a riotously popular Montreal brass-band that combines jazz, funk, cabaret, and Zappa-esque avant garde, and Les Projectionnistes (since 1995, 2 CDs).

Recently, Leclerc began playing with Quebecois slam artist Ivy and accompanying several singers, playing in the jazz/blues/western swing Susie Arioli Band (since 2005, 2 CDs/DVDs), and with award-winning vocalist Andrea Lindsay (since 2007) and vocalist Thomas Hellman (since 2003, 3 CDs). Leclerc has performed, toured and/or recorded with a number of popular, mainstream Francophone vocalists, including the pop star Gaële; Acadian singer Fredric Gary Comeau; world renown Francophone singer/songwriter Robert Charlebois (2000-2002, 1 CD), Acadian folk/pop singer/actress Marie-Jo Thério, Armenian singer/songwriter Lousnak, Quebecois singer/songwriter Jean Leloup and Quebecois traditional folk music singer/story-teller Michel Faubert (1991-199, 3 CDs).

Most often, however, Leclerc has worked with New Music/musique actuelle groups, including numerous avant garde world music/jazz bands. He spent a decade in both the genre-defying experimental/eastern folk/groove project Papa Boa (1991-2001, 1 CD) and Paul Kunigis’ world music band, Jeszcze Raz (1996-2006, 4 CDs); as well as working with Bernars Falaise’s project Vache qui veut vole; the French/Italian folk-pop/world fusion group Roverselli (2003-2006, 1 CD); and circus group La P’tite Fanfare. From 1987-1997, he was the drummer for André Duchesne’s various projects (Les 4 Guitaristes de l’Apocalypso-bar, Diésel, L’ ou’L, Locomotive), touring and recording 3 CDs for ReR Recommended, Ambiances Magnétiques, and Victo.

From 2000-2007, Leclerc worked with guitarist, multi-media artist and anti-globalization activist Sylvie Chenard’s les Projets de la baleine, and from 1992-2001, he worked and recorded with Jerry Snell, the singer, socio-political artist, experimental musician who co-founded Montreal’s renown dance theater company, Carbone 14. Leclerc has also worked with Ligue d’improvisation musicale de Montréal (2003-2008) and Cabina Obscura (2006-7), and played on the 2006 CD Le Silence des Hommes by poet D. Kimm and Bernard Falaise.

Besides working professionally as a musician, Leclerc also does professional audio visual work for College Ahuntsic, L’Arsenal à Musique, Le Centre international d’art contemporain de Montréal; Le Musée des Beaux-arts du Canada, and Le Centre de diffusion de la photographie VOX.

Nicolas Lessard
A classically-trained pianist and professional musicologist, Nicolas Masino began playing electric bass because, in his words, “it was such a cool instrument.” He began taking piano lessons when he was 6 years old. Masino would later study at the University of Montreal, from which he received several degrees, including a BA, an M.A. (Master of Arts) in piano, an M.M. (Master in Musicology), and a Ph.D. in musicology. His Master’s thesis was about the integration of modern classical and popular influences in Frank Zappa’s music, and his recently-completed Ph.D. deals with Stravinsky’s neoclassical period.

Besides co-composing works with Miriodor, Masino has composed various pieces of chamber music and scored several movies. As a performer, the first rock band that he played in was, in his words:

“a long forgotten band whose name was probably its best asset: it was called Jim Bacon & the Eggs. It was essentially a pop group who had the good idea to integrate influences of Violent Femmes, The Cure, Jane’s Addiction and, more improbably, Simple Minds, David Bowie, and various things we had been listening to during the 80s.”

For several years during the late 1990s, Masino was also a member of Les Projectionnistes, a Montreal avant-garde jazz / experimental rock/ musique actuelle band who performed music to accompany surrealist silent films. Nicolas played bass and piano on the band’s first CD, Copie Zero (1999), released by Ambiance Magnetiques; two other Miriodor members who also belonged to Les Projectionnistes, Bernard Falaise and Remi LeClerc, also appear on that disc. Miriodor is the only band that Masino is currently involved with. Miriodor is the only band that Masino is currently involved with. His more socially redeeming activities include being a professor at the Collège Lionel-Groulx, in Ste-Thérèse, Quebec since 1994, where he teaches music theory, history and aesthetics, and spending as much time as possible with his three children.

Booklet for Zigzag