Ars nova meets dark folk, aural cinema, contemporary music, drone and much more. An astonishing album gathering three extended pieces that unfold the works of medieval musical genius Guillaume de Machaut, the greatest and last of the troubadours.

Lovingly recorded by sound master Frederic Alstadt, featuring Clara Levy, Stéphane Clor & Eugénie De Mey, this album captures all the poignancy and poetry, of this timeless music. A passionate performance by virtuosic musical lover Michaël|le Grébil Liberg on labels Sub Rosa & Thödol. The long-awaited interpretation of Le Lay de l’Ymage – never recorded before! – is the most beautiful song of the 14th century you will hear this year!

𝘛𝑜 𝑏𝘦𝑔𝘪𝑛 𝑎𝘯𝑒𝘸. 𝐼𝘮𝑎𝘨𝑖𝘯𝑖𝘯𝑔 𝑏𝘦𝑔𝘪𝑛𝘯𝑖𝘯𝑔 𝑎𝘯𝑒𝘸. 𝐴𝘯𝑑 𝑜𝘯𝑒 𝑑𝘢𝑦, 𝘴𝑢𝘥𝑑𝘦𝑛𝘭𝑦, 𝘵ℎ𝘦𝑟𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝑛 𝑖𝘮𝑎𝘨𝑒, 𝘢 𝘭𝑖𝘵𝑡𝘭𝑒 𝘪𝑚𝘢𝑔𝘦, 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑖𝘮𝑝𝘰𝑠𝘴𝑖𝘣𝑙𝘦 𝘪𝑚𝘢𝑔𝘦…

To begin anew – to return, once more, to a moment in history, to a time long past; to approach the music and poetry of Guillaume de Machault, at the heart of the 14th century. To draw near – to a work, in order to reread it, once more. To imagine – to consider it in the light of the times we live in; its gears, its tragedies, its hopes as well. To seek – the beauty of a sublime music, too often forgotten, that lets us feel the gentle modal sweetness of a distant West in time. One must always take a step back and look again, to see what a poetic and musical tradition of old might contain, with fresh eyes and ears – as each generation must – to immerse oneself in it with care. It is not by clinging too tightly to the present that we can hear the chant of our own time. To seek an image that might be a mirror, a reflection of extreme beauty and tenderness, and offer it to our age – with the aim of rediscovering the mystery… Thus was born the great desire for the boxed set of L’Ymage, the new double album by Michaël|le Grébil Liberg — a co-production between Sub Rosa and Thödol Records.

At the heart of the box is an exclusive & complete interpretation of the Lay de l’Ymage. The repertoire of Machault’s lais is very rarely performed, and this album offers a rare opportunity to hear this unique and particular form, one that unfolds across an extended period of time; an experience of duration, at a time when brutality and acceleration are shrinking our sense of Time. To draw close to a music that lets us hear nuance, doubt, and above all – dulcitude. For it is dulcitude is what we shall speak of, time and again, in the music we are approaching. To nourish Machault’s music with all of this, in the attentive spirit of our time – may well cause a flower to bloom in the garden of listening, and perhaps, an ymage…

On the fringes of the Lay de l’Ymage, are two other pieces. One opens the album, a piece where l’envers vaut l’endroit (Backward’s worth forwards) – as the filmmaker Jean Epstein once said – the polyphonic rondeau Ma Fin est mon Commencement instrumentally reimagined in collaboration with Clara Levy & Stéphane Clor.

At the other end, there is a Hörbild, a book of sound images in the orthogonal lineage of german hörspiels, aural cinema & radio poems – an intertwined form where music, distant voices, and field recordings allow us to hear some Oyseaulx d’Avryl… .