Dans son blog de critiques de disques et K7 Vital weekly, Frans de Waard a été surpris par le le disque « Quatre soliloques » fraichement sorti sur le label L’eau des fleurs : The next record I approached without any background information. I glanced at the cover briefly; none of the names meant much to me, so I decided to listen first. I did and scratched my head, and returned to the information, expecting to read something about modular synthesisers and such. Still, much to my surprise, the album was made with three instruments: a lap steel guitar, an electric sanza, and a bass guitar. Ravi Shardja, whom I had never heard before, also writes, “Three instruments for four soliloquies, as there is no numerical logic here. The bass guitar plays twice on side S, and that’s how it is. Speech is banned. ‘Four soliloquies’ without voice or words: I admit the title may seem paradoxical. However, it took no less than four instrumental attempts to try and translate the thread of my emotions and intellect.” My thinking didn’t go that far with voices and soliloquies as I was wondering about the number four. The way I heard the music, I heard way more than four pieces or one long one of 35 minutes divided into many different sections. From the records I have listened to on this French label, this new one fits quite well with what they do: offering some disturbing combinations of free music and improvised noise while being rooted in the world of musique concrète. It is not one thing or the other all the time; the music here quickly travels from something tranquil to something quite loud. It all has the impression of a rather long collage of sounds and ideas, some of which work quite well and others don’t. But overall, it is an excellent record, whatever it is about.