Murcof is the moniker of Fernando Corona, a Mexican born Spanish based electronic artist, who has been releasing work since 2002. His music has so far explored minimalist, austere, glitchy, sample based loops, which draws inspiration from 20th century composers such as Arvo Pärt, orchestral pieces are abstracted and processed through electronics to create elegiac and colossal atmospheres, with each album taking a different perspective. This release is not supposed to be seen as a follow up to last year’s Cosmos, it is the result of a commission for Les Grandes Eaux Nocturnes, a yearly event focusing on sound, light and water held at the palace of Versailles, former residency of Louis XIV and many leaders of la France over the years. Musicians were asked to perform various pieces by baroque composers using 17th century instruments such as viola de gamba, violin and harpsichord, these pieces were then manipulated electronically by Corona.The spirit and life of the times that is being used as inspiration are not, as you might suppose, resurrected here. Certainly the instruments of the age are used as sources for sound, and some few ghostly melodies and airs are called up, but they are cut off, and indeed distinguished, from that time by Corona’s hand. The cello of ‘Louis XIV’s Demons’ plays a mercurial string of notes, and yet it is distorted around the edges and trails otherworldly static. Later in this track there is violin, but it’s the strings being plucked rather than having a bow being drawn across them, these plucks stick out sharply as if they have been dissected and then put up for display. ‘Death Of A Forest’ has what sounds like slack piano strings being struck and caught in a wind, subverting the use of the instrument. Corona’s hand can be seen even more directly with the presence of electronically treated sound used for ambient and droning parts, such as in ‘A Lesson For The Future, Farewell To The Old Ways’, an indistinct fog, with almost the spectre of a chamber piece being played, but buried in echo, reverb and ambience. ‘Lully's “Turquerie” As Interpreted By An Advanced Script’ is rhythmic, distinct clear clicks and bassy pulsing thuds, the percussion becoming more and more hard-edged and synthetic as the track continues.It’s as if these instruments are being explored and prodded by Corona, some few harpsichord notes are hit in ‘Spring In The Artificial Gardens’, their sound is allowed to echo out and take it’s time in fading, as if it’s being played for it’s textural qualities rather than it’s melodic ones. Operatic voices are used in ‘A Lesson For The Future, Farewell To The Old Ways’ again shorn of original context, as they hold soaring notes, but sing no words initially, again the textural quality is being extended and examined. And going back to ‘Spring In The Artificial Gardens’, that is what we find in the full-on drone, as soaring and emotional as the voices in ‘A Lesson”¦’ but slower, even less distinct than those wordless notes. The militaristic penny whistle in last track ‘Lully's “Turquerie” As Interpreted By An Advanced Script’ is probably the most traditional and full-fledged use of an instrument, but even that ends up truncated and looping by the end of the song.De-contextualization plays its part here, just as the instruments are removed from their original uses and prodded in modern ways, so the relation of this release to the Palace of Versailles is removed. I can well imagine a strong physical connection to the orangerie, the gardens and the architecture of the palace with this music, but without experiencing that the theme of The Versailles Sessions is somewhat lost. What we are left with is an interesting turn from Murcof, actual (traditional) instruments can be heard clearly, not just samples of distended string pulls as found on Remembranza, silence is explored, and the overt glitchy electronics have receded somewhat. It’s an interesting release, a good one even, but will probably be most appreciated by fans of Fernando Corona and his music. 75%Murcof on MySpace