Nicolas Gaunin - Huti ゲーム (2024)

After a recent output on Moon Glyph, Nicolas Gaunin is back on Artetetra with a new digital EP of tender digital folklore hymns for personal mini-worlds. Known for his composition style centered on interlocking polyrhythms and bidimensional sound fonts advancing the field of a possible 2.0 exotica, in Huti ゲーム Gaunin momentarily abandons his customary musical vocabulary to experiment with an atypical ‘ensemble’ approach: percussions interweave with string samples and synthetic choirs. This change gives his tracks a surprising lyrical dimension. Timbral textures are lightened in place of airy, delicate sound spaces while densely layered arrangements breath through tight interplay.

Inspired by a number of classic essays, novels and mythical texts by the likes of Elémire Zolla, E.R. Eddison and Mircea Eliade, the imagery of Huti ゲーム (Game) is built as a soundtrack of an imaginary videogame, an epic adventure starring the hero Rokoreke Taribaku, alter ego of Nicolas Gaunin (in turn alter ego of Nicola Sanguin). In the land of Huti, inhabited by strange animal-human creatures, Rokoreke must face his nemesis: the gigantic Serpent swallowing everything in its path and trapping the creatures' souls in its tunnel-like stomach. The musical narration follows the hero's quest to defeat the monster and free the trapped critters’ souls, thus making each track a miniature stage-soundtrack expressing fragments of this fantasy world.
The Serpent, a recurrent symbol of eternal return and rebirth in many cultures, becomes the central figure on the EP. Each track suggests the idea of an inner and cosmic battle, in which music becomes a metaphor for the conflict between polarities of any kind. The choice of synthetic sounds and evocative strings amplifies this symbolism, tracing an emotional path that superimposes the mythical seriousness of Rokoreke’s destiny with registers coming from popular culture and children’s tales.

Once again, Gaunin renews his worldbuilding potential by propelling hybrid folk imageries into the 21st century. Huti ゲーム is a sound experience that transcends the concept of a soundtrack, becoming a short immersive and poetic suite, in which Gaunin plays with sounds to tell a story of redemption and rebirth, with echoes of ancient myths and future worlds.

BUT THERE’S MORE! Huti ゲーム is not only a beautiful standalone musical work but also one way Gaunin and Artetetra came with to announce a second work in the making by the artist, to be released in vinyl 2025.