»La Traversée« (»The Crossing«) is Matthias Puech’s second album for Hallow Ground and follows up on 2023’s »Mt. Hadamard National Park.« Profoundly inspired by re-reading »The Odyssey,« the French composer, instrument designer, and scholar used a Eurorack modular synthesizer to create four pieces that are by far the most intuitive and emotionally charged in his ever-expanding catalogue. Puech’s masterful command of sound comes to the forefront with even more urgency on this record. A wandering meditation on the human condition, »La Traversée« is an album that is constantly in motion—complex electronic music at its most gripping and evocative.

The foundation for »La Traversée« was laid when Puech prepared a live set for a tour organised in collaboration with Hallow Ground in support of »Mt. Hadamard National Park.« Before writing the first three pieces—»Ennosigaios,« »Polyphármakos,« »Nekuia«—the 18½-minute-long »Ithâké« was composed in near-total isolation in the South of France at the end of 2023. Puech performed the material live several times before taking a step black from it for a while. He revisited the pieces when preparing them for a release. »I was struck by how the technical process and the intention behind the music had completely vanished from my memory,« he says.

What remained intact, however, was Puech’s association of the material with one of the most influential texts of Western literature. Reading a graphic novel adaptation of »The Odyssey« with his two four-year-olds, he noticed the effect that it had on them and himself. »Its themes of longing, fear of and attraction to the unknown, unresolved quests, and the struggle for control felt topical,« he says. »I was completely taken. Every story ever told seemed contained in this ancient tale; every story I have ever tried to tell as a composer seemed inscribed in this framework.« This also extended to formal motifs such as the repetition of incidents, narrative developments, or dramatic effects that also mark »La Traversée.«

Puech says that he perceived Homer’s writing as musical, »like an old Delta blues or a Renaissance counterpoint,« which inspired his writing process. »With a couple of knobs on my Eurorack system, I could control the unfolding of a story,« he notes. »This made me pass through different emotional states and led to moments in which everything made sudden sense—when you as an artist get a glimpse at something essential, can touch upon something universal.« This shines through »La Traversée,« a wildly imaginative album that is deeply personal while also telling a story far more wide-reaching than that of its creator.

Composed, recorded and mixed by Matthias Puech
Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi
Cover: excerpt from J. M. W. Turner, Snow Storm: Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth (1842)
Drawing by Matthias Puech

La Traversée

Ennosigaios

This month’s episode drifts in with the falling leaves —a selection of new releases and sonic findings gathered in quiet reverence for change, resilience, and renewal <3

doris dana 11/10/25

@minka-r

www.retreatradio.net/web-echoes

Listen 24/7 at www.retreatradio.net

web echoes #10 w/ Minka (05/10/25)

A woven fabric of ambient, experimental, idm, and glitch.


Life as Collage w/ yusk: 26th October '25

Klein - 84 remy [Parkwuud Entertainment]
https://klein1997.bandcamp.com/album/sleep-with-a-cane

Thme & Virginia Aveline - From Above [VAKNAR]
https://vaagner.bandcamp.com/album/diving-wounds

Barefoot - Loam [Captured Visions]
https://capturedvisions.bandcamp.com/album/unseen-objects

Natas Kunas - The Sea (Čiurlionis Recomposed) [self-released]
https://nataskunas.bandcamp.com/track/the-sea-iurlionis-recomposed

Patina Lush - Mist Unseen (Script Remix) [Amulet of Tears]
https://amuletoftears.bandcamp.com/album/mist-unseen

Sleep Inc. - Dive to the Heart [self-released]
https://sleepinc.bandcamp.com/album/ambient

Imberbe - getting clearer and clearer [Altamira Records]
https://imberbe.bandcamp.com/album/presence

XENIA REAPER - container 3am [Oscilla Sound]
https://oscillasound.bandcamp.com/album/lmnl004-zumi3

DJ Lostboi - LB 100 [Queeste]
https://queeste.bandcamp.com/album/the-flash

PRESENTE - Acqua Fresca [Yerevan Tapes]
https://lentefantasma.bandcamp.com/album/ultra-heaven

Glacial Anatomy - Twilight at 3AM [Perceptual Tapes]
https://perceptualtapes.bandcamp.com/album/the-star-whispers

Teatre - Where the River No Longer Runs [Flummoxed]
https://flummoxedrec.bandcamp.com/album/entrusting-flame

Malibu - Jaded [YEAR0001]
https://mmmmalibu.bandcamp.com/album/vanities

ıšdavıkaı - Ett rasande stillestånd [Flummoxed]
https://flummoxedrec.bandcamp.com/album/entrusting-flame

Amulet of Tears @ Radio Vilnius #14 / October 15th, 2025

@juliettehenriu

www.retreatradio.net/shells

Listen 24/7 at www.retreatradio.net

Shells #4 w/ juliettehenriu (26/10/25)

Snowy tapes - Darkwave beat

A monthly transmission of displaced rock n roll, exotic punk and early electronics, paying favor to all things primitive and sleazy. LA visual artist Amanda Siegel delves into the international underground, offering a thorough sonic survey of protopunk, hard rock, synthpunk, powerpop, psych, industrial and more.

From the host: _"For the special occasion of October 31st, Crossed Wires host Amanda will oblige listeners with her favorite extreme metal. Death, doom, sludge, thrash, and black metal from Brazil to Finland."_ 
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/amanda-siegel/episodes/amanda-siegel-31st-october-2025

Crossed Wires w/ Amanda Siegel 311025

Taken from Aris Kindt's forthcoming album, Now Claims My Timid Heart, out everywhere on November 7, 2025. 

Aris Kindt - Shake Loose and Fall

Curio earworms and other obsessions from Krakow's Natalia Panzer. 
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/natalia-panzer/episodes/natalia-panzer-8th-november-2025

Natalia Panzer - Cover Songs  081125

piazza martellotta

quiet time for your mind

sorry, we don't accept demos right now

Aris Kindt - Shake Loose and Fall

Quiet Time