Originally Posted by bandcamp

Résistances was premiered on May 14, 2015 at the opening of the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville (FIMAV) and the Année Jean Derome (AJD) — a big series of events supported by CALQ (Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec) and presented throughout the province of Québec to celebrate the composer’s 60th anniversary. This album features both live music recorded during the second Résistances concert — presented by Productions SuperMusique at Montréal’s Gesù on March 16, 2017 — as well as excerpts from the rehearsals of the previous two days, March 14 and 15.

Résistances is based on the theme of electricity and is inspired by the research that Jean Derome has done on this subject — from the concepts / ideas of electric current, flow, power and voltage to those of resistance, circuit, motor, pulse and frequency. The composition threads through the same territory that Derome started to explore in the year 2000 with his previous composition Canot-camping and is conceived for a group of improvisers. Although a few short sections of the composition are scored, the bulk of it is improvised. Derome acts as a prompter/conductor using a unique set of 140 hand-signs the musicians/interpreters are familiar with.
Instrumentation

Résistances uses a very particular instrumentation, mixing voice and acoustic, electrical, electronic and invented instruments. Three drum sets and three double basses mix with pairs of instruments symmetrically positioned on stage: two string, two wood and two brass instruments, two guitars, two analog synthesizers, and piano, turntable, sampler and electric bass. The composition comprises as well three short solo sections featuring Jean Derome on Jew’s harp, trumpet and iPad. Eight musicians double up as vocalists in some sections and all 20 members of the ensemble use a metronome and a stopwatch on different occasions.
The composition

Several sections of the composition are tuned to 60 Hz which is the standard frequency of electricity in North America. For this specific reason some instruments were made especially for this occasion, including two kalimbas and a Jew’s harp tuned to the harmonic scale of 60 Hz. Saxophones are occasionally played with mutes in order to tune their fundamental and harmonics to 60 Hz. All string instruments are tuned as well to this same frequency between B and B flat and all wind instruments have developed alternative fingerings in order to play each harmonic of 60 Hz in just temperament. Finally, some sections oppose the piano and the wind instruments tuned to 440 Hz to the rest of the group which is tuned to 60 Hz (A = 427,64 Hz).

Jean Derome wishes you to “catch a good buzz” while listening to the album.