CHANTALL MICHELLE - All Things Might Spill

The work of composer and multidisciplinary artist Chantall Michelle is devoted to probing how sound is generated, how it spreads, and how it is perceived. Alongside her own discography — released through labels such as Dinzu Artefacts and Somewhere Press — she has collaborated with prestigious institutions like the US's The Museum of Modern Art and the UK's The Royal Academy of Arts, as well as producing numerous sound installations.

Hers is certainly an interesting CV, one that primes the listener for “All Things Might Spill”, released this year on the French label Shelter Press. Recorded mostly during the winter of 2024, the album opens with the strange, undefined "Magnetic Field I", just over two minutes entrusted to Alma Laprida and her tromba marina, an instrument that, despite its name, is not a brass instrument but a cumbersome single-stringed chordophone. The original performance was later manipulated in the studio by Chantall, amplifying the instrument's rough edges.

This unusual introduction is followed by the mysterious "Presence of Border" — carried by Alliyah Enyo's voice — in which the composer seems to suggest that what interests her is not the score (or the improvisation) itself, but how it diffuses through space, scattering into a rarefied echo. Playing on contrasts, the title-track hovers between spiritual impalpability and a countermelody of anthropic noise, while in a further version of Magnetic Field the tromba marina takes on almost aboriginal timbral qualities. The long analogue drone of the closing "Thoughts Like Blocks Of Ice" traces the line of a featureless horizon, against which thin, skeletal strings vibrate like deconstructed timbral ghosts.

In its chilly academicism, “All Things Might Spill” presents itself as a reflection on the multiplicity of contemporary compositional languages, of which Chantall Michelle shows a deep awareness. That sense of suspension, fragmentation and irresolution typical of our era's musical writing surfaces in every track, as does her fondness for building brief timbral dichotomies.

All this should lead to pages charged with tension, in which sonic matter is pushed to its limits, and indeed there are thrilling moments (the aforementioned "Presence of Border"). Still, one gets the sense of glimpsing only brief fragments of something bigger and more complex that remains hidden. The image itself has its own poetic charm, and one might even suspect a degree of intent on the author's part in pursuing this path. Even so, “All Things Might Spill” feels more like a high-level stylistic exercise than a solid, structured album. As ever, it's a matter of perspective.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google

13/10/2026