Sophie Binet-Budelot first came to prominence in claiming a podium finish at the European Solo Championships in Lille in 2016, although the first inkling that we were hearing a substantive playing talent came two years earlier in Perth.

This was also shown on her debut CD release ‘Adventure’ in 2015, and now reaches a thoroughly engaging level of burrowing curiosity with these 10 distinctive tracks - five of which she has written herself.

Inquisitive

Hers is a highly inquisitive, original talent- the comprehensive arc of her high class playing reaching out in new and truly innovative directions (she has studied singing, trombone, theatre and choir direction).  

There is something deliciously off-kilter, other-worldly about the music - a bit like hearing the pop star Björk taking a fancy for writing for the tenor horn; her musical thought processes acting like individualistic tributaries that eventually mingle into a delta of comprehensive understanding.  

Combining her distinctive tonality with a mix of electric bass, vibraphone, marimba, flugel, bass sax, cello, congas and vocals makes for a stimulating sound palette of possibilities; even more so with her ability to whisk the disparate colours and textures together onto a blank canvas without ever losing the focus of her solo voice.

There is something deliciously off-kilter, other-worldly about the music - a bit like hearing the pop star Björk taking a fancy for writing for the tenor horn; her musical thought processes acting like individualistic tributaries that eventually mingle into a delta of comprehensive understanding.  

Breaking twigs

Each track lingers perfectly - the opening Strauss-like hunting call leading the listener deep into the woods, the clapping accompaniment like the syncopated sound of breaking twigs beneath your feet.

Moods and feelings echo through the music that follows - love, kindness, freedom, happiness, social interaction, personal isolation. Each aspect is explored with purposeful detachment – sometimes oddly questioning as if walking in a memory haze- almost but not quite real in its beautifully realised soundscape. 

It ends with a quirky, unearthly goodbye - still ever so surreal, but brimful of originality in impulse and thought to the last.

Iwan Fox

To purchase: https://sophie-bb.com/alive/

Play list:

1. Introduction (Sophie Binet-Budelot)
2. In the Woods (Sophie Binet-Budelot)
3. Social Connections (Thibaut Bruniux)
4. With Love (Sophie Binet-Budelot)
5. Mandala (Pierre-Antoine Savoyat)
6. Petite ballade en Tregor (Thierry Thibault)
7. Kindness (Sophie Binet-Budelot)
8. The Other (Jeremy Chmielarz)
9. For the Future (Pierre-Antoine Savoyat)
10. Memories (Sophie Binet-Budelot)