Elevations is an installation inspired by dub techno, a musical genre that originated in Berlin in the 1990s (1). Dub-techno crosses minimal techno with Jamaican dub, from which it derives the use of massive delay effects. Because of its foggy aesthetic, its harmonic simplicity and its micro-variations in motifs, dub-techno is akin to the melancholy of the end of a party, when the bodies relax, the moment when the night gives way to the day. That is perhaps why researcher Alessio Kolioulis described this style of music as a “hybrid futuristic nostalgia (2)”

Elevations stages this specific time-space through a formal and poetic translation: the musical material is no longer the product of synthetic sounds, but of the pipes of a computer-controlled organ. This instrument – made especially for this installation by the Belgian organ builder Tony Decap – is designed as an eight-meter long row and takes centre stage in the space. Each of the pipes can be controlled individually, multiplying the possibilities: the organ can produce complex harmonic masses, as well as fragile respirations. The impact of this long row of organ pipes and the sound amplification of the instrument, plunges the audience into an immersive sonic environment, where the acoustic and the electronic are indistinguishable.

The scenography consists of three light bulbs. The set is a careful balance between a number of elements: high-tech and low-tech, deep darkness and bright light, slow and fast, high and low. Interactive media control the movements of the mobile and the brightness of the light bulbs. The scenography fits seamlessly with the instrument and the music: a classical organ played by digital media and robotics.

The instrument and scenography play independently, humans are no longer involved. The machines replace humans in one of the last places we would hope to be irreplaceable, acoustic music. The ensemble breathes the atmosphere of an almost deserted, early afterparty, where people don’t know why they are still there, there is no reason to stay, but no reason to leave either.

(1) The title “Elevations” pays homage to one of dub-techno’s major works produced by the artist René Lowe, better known under the pseudonym Vainqueur, released in 1996 on the label Chain Reaction
(2) Alessio Kolioulis, “Borderlands: Dub Techno’s Hauntological Politics of Acoustic Ecology.” Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture 7, no. 2 (2015): 64-85

Elevations (in collaboration with Kris Verdonck)

Concept & composition: Maxime Denuc
Scenography & light design : Kris Verdonck
Organ building: Tony Decap, Seppe Verbist – Pipes from Manufacture d’orgues Thomas
Computer music programming: Xavier Meeus from Centre Henri Pousseur
Light programming: Daniel Romero Calderon
Technical direction: Harry Charlier
Technical stage manager : Felix Petit

Productioon: A Two Dogs Company (Brussels), Le Ring-Scène périphérique (Toulouse) Coproduc-on: STUK (Leuven), KANAL- Centre Pompidou (Brussels), Le Lieu Unique (Nantes), Centre Henri Pousseur (Liège). With the help of Federatioon Wallonie-Bruxelles, DRAC Occitanie, Region Occitanie, SACEM. A production in the frame of a residency at A two Dogs Company.

Nachthorn takes its name from one of the 78 stops that make up the main organ in St. Antonius Church in Düsseldorf. This instrument, equipped with a system developed by the German company Sinua, offers the possibility of controlling all of its keyboards and timbres via a computer. The organ thus becomes a powerful synthesiser. This set-up allowed me to fulfil an old dream of mine : to create an entirely acoustic dance music piece with the organ as sole actor. Oscillating between dub techno, harmonic locked grooves or after-hours pop, Nachhorn proposes a hypnotic music piece whose lines sketch the outline of an imaginary warehouse.

Composed and programmed for midi-controlled organ by Maxime Denuc. Recorded on 5 and 6 May 2021 at St. Antonius Kirche, Düsseldorf-Oberkassel, by Harry Charlier. Mixed by Raphaël Hénard at La Savonnerie, Brussels. Mastered and cut by Frédéric Alstadt at Mont Analogue, Bever. Artwork by Jonathan Martin. Produced by Thomas Van de Velde for Vlek Records, supported by the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles. Thanks to Markus Hinz, Benedickt Aufterbeck & Thomas Stöckl from Sinua, Daniel Bleikolm, Cindy Castillo, Marc Jacobs, Fanny Calès, Haleh Zahedi and Josquin Denuc. Vlek 36 © ℗ 2022

Composed by: Maxime Denuc
Performed by: Cindy Castillo
Recorded by: Patrick Faubert
Mastered by: Frederic Alstadt

Solarium is an hour-and-a-half organ piece intended for ‘afters’, that period of slack that follows the frenzy of a techno-fuelled night. It leans on dawn’s emotional potency to interweave those in need of the curative benefits of organ frequencies to end the night with those in search of a new temporal encounter to begin the day.
Moulded by the tenets of rave culture, the piece upholds the freedom of its audience. Speakers subtly amplify the instrument in the nave of the church, where listeners wander, sit, stand or lie, to focus on the score or lose themselves in sound.
In an age of digitally enhanced musical overconsumption, fabricating new ways of listening to music together is a means of generating the unheard-of. Instead of a one-way ejection in the face of the public, Solarium spawns the frame of a collective experience that reclines on its braided threads, whether they be sonic, scenic, somatic or social.

Solarium came to life during an artistic residency at l’église du Gesu in Toulouse, France. It was performed live by Cindy Castillo and Maxime Denuc on Sunday morning 22/09/2019 at 10am, presented as an after party of the annual Festival ‘Électro Alternativ’. It was Special thanks to Regarts, Toulouse les Orgues, Gmea – Centre National de Création Musicale Albi-Tarn and la Mairie de Toulouse.

As a solo artist, his work has focused on church organs. In 2020, he released Solarium on the Belgian label Vlek, an organ-centric venture that relies on the emotional potency of sunrise to spawn an experience that is both musical and social. Two years later, he composed Nachthorn, for midi-controlled organ on the main instrument of St. Antonius Church in Düsseldorf. The record was critically acclaimed, notably by Boomkat which selected it in the ten record of the year 2022. Over the last two years, Maxime Denuc has performed in venues and festivals such as Rewire (NL), Festival Variations (FR), Intonal (SW), Orgelpark (NL), STUK Leuven (BE), Meakusma (BE), Klangspuren (AT)…

Recently, he presented a new robot-driven project created in collaboration with Brussels-based engineers from Bots Conspiracy and Shakmat, further exploring the automation of performing music on the organ. He has also created, Elevations, an installation centered around a transportable organ in collaboration with the visual artist Kris Verdonck.

Selected performances :

Biennale Musica, Venice (IT)
Rewire Festival, Den Haag (NL)
Intonal, Malmo (SW)
Meakusma, Eupen (BE)
Elevate, Graz (AT)
Abrupt Festival, Brussels (BE)
Orgelpark, Amsterdam (NL)
Aggregate Festival, Berlin (DE)
STUK, Leuven (BE)
Klangspuren, Schwaz (AT)
Festival Variations, Nantes (FR)
Villette Sonique, Paris (FR)
Musée du Quai Branly, Paris (FR)
Les Siestes Electroniques, Toulouse (FR)
Le Lieu Unique, Nantes (FR)
Friche Belle de Mai, Marseille (FR)
Sonar, Barcelona (ES)
Club Josef, Berlin (DE)
Musikprotokoll, Graz (AT)
Schiev Festival, Brussels (BE)
Today’s art, Den Haag (NL)
Skanu Mezs, Riga (LV)
Mosteiro Santa Clara , Coimbra (PT)
RUC, Coimbra (PT)
Club Metro, Kyoto (JP)
SuperDeluxe, Tokyo (JP)
Dommune, Tokyo (JP)
Flussi Festival, Avellino (IT)
Dans Dakar, Stockholm (SW)
D-CAF Festival, Cairo (EG)
Vent Club, Cairo (EG)
Institut Français de Brazzaville (CG)
Centre Pompidou Metz (FR)
Columbia University, Paris (FR)

Choral records, 2016

Written, produced and mixed by Plapla Pinky.
Organ by Cindy Castillo
Mastering at Ångstrom studio, Brussels

Choral Records , 2015

Video by La France Entière

Pancrace Royer – La Marche des Scythes (1746)

Jean-Philippe Rameau – Le Rappel des Oiseaux (1724)

Charles Piroye – La Béatitude (1712)

Pancrace Royer – Le Vertigo (1746)

J.S Bach – Passacaille et fugue en ut mineur (1707-12?)

Produced by Plapla Pinky
Photography by Pauline Hisbacq
Typography by Jonathan Martin
Mastering & Cutting by Angstrom Mastering

Kuntur Records , 2014

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