025: Alice Hebborn, Saisons

Contemporary classical gets ambient on this gloomy, meditative debut.

It’s been a long week and I ran out of time to go longer but I’m determined to stick to this weekly cadence so today I’ll recommend an excellent album I reviewed for Uncut last year: Saisons, the debut of Belgian composer Alice Hebborn. She moved to the countryside in 2021, immersing herself daily in the landscapes that would inspire the hidden complexity of these seven gorgeous movements. Hebborn, who plays electronics, is joined by the pianist Nao Momitani; their sonic relationship creates a pulsing, push-pull between synthesized and organic, a persistent force that gives the album its stark yet lush power. The LAPS Ensemble, a group of Belgian musicians, is also credited, which is presumably where the Lynchian trumpet we hear on the final movement comes from.

Favorite songs: “Mouvement 1” (intense doomy piano, reminiscent of ‘80s Nick Cave); “Mouvement 6” (this one sounds like the path of rain); “Mouvement 7” (ghostly jazz, Blue Velvet in a cave)

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