De Mey, Yves
Force Over Area
Yves De Mey's music comes in many shapes, swaying from sparse to packed, and everything in between. But always with a strong focus on details, on the grains of what eventually becomes a solid entity, a resonant construction. Precise sound design and elastic rhythms are key, whether it's in his solo work or in collaborations. In the past he has worked with Peter Van Hoesen as Sendai, and more recently he started Grid Ravage, a trio with Louis Evrard on drums and Gino Coomans on cello. Since 2009, De Mey had a string of releases on a wide range of labels. Line, Sandwell District, Opal Tapes, Spectrum Spools, Editions Mego, Latency, Entr'acte, Stellage, Superpang, an ever-growing list of outlets allowing for a broad palette of styles and moods. There's also been a vast amount of live shows at respected festivals and venues; CTM, Atonal, Labyrinth, Mutek, to name but a few. On Force over Area, Yves De Mey combines slow and ominous melodies with stripped rhythms and acidic bass lines. Over the course of the album, Force over Area becomes a spatial construction with sounds bouncing off the walls, various elements trying to find a way in and air turning into liquid. After all, Force over Area means pressure. The 7 tracks are slowly paced, leaving time and space for continuous modulation of elements and parameters. The album's freeform fits perfectly in Totalism's catalogue of experimental yet musical ambitions. All tracks produced by Yves De Mey in 2024. "Heat Cured" and "Gdansk" are rewritten parts of a quadrophonic composition commissioned by Kolonia - Poland. A big chunk of the sounds on this album wouldn't exist without the relentless support of Joranalogue Audio Design.