Electronic composer — and Montreal cassette enthusiast — Asael Robitaille inhabits a woozy landscape of primitive 3D visuals and expansive synth-based sound collages as Bataille Solaire. Drawing out faint, fluttering melodies through an amassed collection of samplers and synthesizers, he crafts intricate tones and rhythms out of primordial synth-based musical archetypes. Often leaning more toward the spectrum of ambient experimentation, Bataille Solaire allows Robitaille the opportunity to explore vast stretches of rhythmic space without feeling hemmed in by any particular set of guidelines or influences. Soundtracking the emptiness of space might seem a daunting task for most people but not for Robitaille. He will go even further into the depths of circuital space with the release of his latest album,Documentaires, which is due out soon via Constellation Tatsu.
For the video to Documentaires-cut “Sauropodes & Acacias,” Robitaille continues his obsession with and distillation of old-school CGI and vintage nature documentaries. Swinging seamlessly between rhythmic ambient extrapolations and something that more closely resembles melodic structure, “Sauropodes & Acacias” is the sound of expanding negative space. But far from feeling that the sounds here are going to keep growing until the seams separate and everything drifts off into some vague musical ephemera, Robitaille collects these shimmering synth lines into cyclical rhythms that spiral outward, gathering stray bits of melody and percussion as they expand and warp. The video for the track, created by Frank Oulette, details the expansion and evolution of what appears to be an alternate world, full of exaggerated flora and fauna — all rendered in exquisitely lo-fi graphics. And what would an alternate timeline be without a spaceship and various unidentifiable creatures.
Beats Per Minute is pleased to premiere the video for “Sauropodes & Acacias,” which is taken from Bataille Solaire’s upcoming album, Documentaires.
