Impressions collects six works that Julien Guillamat composed between 2010 and 2026, first at the Electroacoustic Music Studios of the University of Birmingham and later at the Métamorphoses d’Orphée studio of Musiques & Recherches in Ohain. Most are for 8 channels and mixed here in stereo. Field recordings run through all of them, from English Channel crossings to the Pyrenees.

De part et d’autre (2010) follows the soundscapes of his years in Birmingham and the long waits in stations and airports on both sides of the Channel; it was a finalist at the 2010 Métamorphoses competition. Ailleurs (2011) is made entirely from a binaural recording of about ten people taking apart BEAST, a concert system of over 100 loudspeakers, where conversations turn into faint melodies. Sonnation II (2011), commissioned by Circles of Influence, explores four objects that shape the sound of the French Pyrenees and come together each year during the transhumance. Le goût des larmes (2013), commissioned by The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, is inspired by René Magritte’s La saveur des larmes.

The two most recent works belong to Aure sonore, a soundscape project on the Aure Valley led by the Maison des arts sonores. Altitudes (2024, 25) uses sounds from the ski resorts of Saint-Lary-Soulan, Val Louron and Piau Engaly to question tourism and our urge to escape to nature. Viae (2025-26), dedicated to Annette Vande Gorne, walks through the streets of Aulon, a village at over 1,200 metres.

Born in Moissac in 1981, Guillamat studied cello and musicology in France before completing a PhD in electroacoustic composition with Jonty Harrison in Birmingham. He founded the Maison des arts sonores and the Klang! festival in Montpellier, and teaches spatialized performance on acousmonium at Arts2 in Mons.

CD-R edition in OGpak, empreintes DIGITALes IMED 26203, 2026.