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Le piano et le torrent

Viviane Audet

The subtitle calls these 15 haunting pieces a récit pianistique, i.e., a “piano story.” And the story that they tell is something like a day in the life of their composer and sole performer, Viviane Audet, as she revisits Maria, the Quebec municipality of her birth. Neo-classical by classification, the music has more classical than neo, especially where the waltz-timed “Barlicoco,” “Les galeries,” “Le Goéland,” and “Maria” are concerned. And as someone with at least half a dozen soundtracks under her belt, Audet has no problem evoking imagery with sound.

Translucent

The Choir

This album’s Bandcamp notes link the metaphorical translucency of Derri Daugherty, Steve Hindalong, and Dan Michaels’ latest music to the spiritual translucency mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13:12. Those notes also call the album “ambient instrumental” and describe it as a “shimmering tapestry … that captures the essence of mood and serenity” (essence of serenity, fine, but “mood”?). Nice touches include bird twitters (“Take to the Sky”) and liminal sax and drums. For the most part, though, we get aural clouds efflorescing in slow motion. Still in the dark? The last song’s called “Watching Feathers Float.”

Oltretempo

Gianmario Liuni

“Oltretempo” means “beyond time.” And, yes, time (likened to a gift, to horses, to something all-devouring) gets mentioned in the titles of five of this two-disc set’s 14 mostly jazz instrumentals. But it’s with Disc 2, subtitled Omaggio a Phillip Glass, that the album goes “beyond” the accomplished fusion-meets-Steely Dan of Disc 1 and into the lower rungs of high culture. At first, the imposition of Glass’ telltale ostinatos onto what the piano-sax-bass-drums combo has going on feels gimmicky. But then something like genuine admiration takes hold. And, like Liuni, you’ll want more of what’s being admired.

K

Jon Troast

Coming off his 2024 worship album Pilgrims by Faith, this troubadour with a fondness for folky five-song EPs radiates even more positivity than usual. From the opening hello song (“Well, Hello”) to the closing farewell (“Think About You With a Smile”), he puts his good foot forward (literally in “Take a Step”) and encourages the downcast to do likewise. Of course, some people get so despondent that jaunty exhortations to cheer up only make them feel worse. So on “Morning Will Come Again” Troast slows way down, gets real, and assures them that he understands.

Viviane Audet Facebook

Encore

If Le piano et le torrent has you wanting more of Viviane Audet alone at the piano (and it should), you’ll be glad to know that her 2023 alternative indie folk-pop album Les nuits avancent comme des camions blindés sur les filles (Quartier Général) has three pieces—­“Anthèse No. 1,” “Anthèse No. 2,” and “Anthèse No. 3”—that fill the bill. What you may be even gladder to know is that the voice she sings with on the other seven songs blends melancholy and resolve as well her fingers do.

So why isn’t she better known in the U.S.? Probably because she sings exclusively in French, a language behind Spanish, Mandarin, Vietnamese, and Tagalog when it comes to fluently spoken languages in the States. But take the trouble to copy and paste her available-­on-Bandcamp lyrics into a translator and you’ll get her gist. To get you started, Les nuits avancent comme des camions blindés sur les filles means “The nights advance like armored trucks on the girls.” If that doesn’t make you curious, nothing will. —A.O.