The first sidelong piece "1000 Fois Bonjour Depuis Le Vignemale" has been written to be played and recorded by a 17 musician orchestra. The three other pieces, also instrumentals, have been recorded solo by JB in a few days using an extremely versatile instrumentarium: motorized percussions, struck objects, oyster shells, field recordings, synthesizers, among others.               

Jérémie Morin, Bongos/ Nicolas Cueille Bongos, Clarinet/Jean-Baptiste Geoffroy, Conductor/Mélanie Loisel, Vincent Robert, Contrabass/Julien Nicolaï-Bizet* Electric Bass/Antoine Bellanger, Euphonium –Léa Roger/Harp/Rachel Langlais Piano/Guillaume Bernard, Pierre Lambla Saxophones/Pierre-Antoine ParoisTom Tom Jean-Baptiste Geoffroy Performer [Chronomètre], Synthesizer [Ultrultron]/Olivier Claveau Trombone/ Antoine Serreau Trumpet, Armand Delaval, Carla Pallone, Violins.

Side B consists of three solo percussion pieces that explore the sonority of motorised cymbals and small percussion studies. Drummer Jean-Baptiste Geoffroy piles project upon project, but each of these endeavours are varied and  different. To start with, there is Pneu , the frenetic drum/guitar duo whose concerts invariably rate high on the Richter scale. Next, there is Kick5ive ,Geoffroy’s electronic and recreational project, as well as Binidu , an SF pop trio which pushes experimental boundaries. Then comes La Colonie de Vacances, a quadraphonic stage creation bringing together twelve musicians.

In short, Geoffroy is an insatiable drummer who likes to work in groups, to explore musical devices and above all, to challenge himself. The idea of challenge brings us to Tachycardie, Geoffroy’s solo project... Superb records by drummers exist already, but JB Geoffroy has no interest simply in following in the footsteps of Chris Corsano, Man Forever or Will Guthrie, all of whom he cites as touchstones.

Where, in that, would lie the challenge, the jeopardy, the playful adventure? Thus is explained JB Geoffroy’s radical choice to do without drums. He conceived Tachycardie as a sound device combining on the one hand, the abstraction of electronic sound gleaned from field recordings, for example, and on the other, the density of palpably material sound. No snare drum, no bass drum for Tachycardie, then, but instead ceramics, driftwood, bells, keys, broken dishes, oyster shells...even a hardcover History of France, signed by one Pierre Conard. Geoffroy mixes a few instrumental sounds, like motorized cymbals and guitars, into what these heterogeneous objects provide.

 Tachycardie gives the artist the scope to explore the acoustics of the world and its objects, to realize the infinitude of their possibilities, to sift through such possibilities and to offer up the gems that he finds glinting in the mesh.In 2019, Geoffroy released Tachycardie’s debut album, Probables (Un je-ne -sais-quoi 2019).

A record of unprecedented richness, sumptuously produced by Brice Kartmann, it also served to launch Tachycardie on stage, both solo and as a group. For the Tachycardie Ensemble, Geoffroy is accompanied by six musicians, and for each phase of his tour, he invites between five and ten others to join him live. Tachycardie can also take the form of autonomous plastic and sound installations.

According to Olivier Lamm writing in Libération, Geoffroy "composes as much as plays, encircles us as much as listens". It would be hard to put it better than this. Tachycardie’s root system spreads deep into the soil of the playground, in the childhood sense of the word: of play as exploration, and as unpredictability. Play as surprise: creating surprise with, and being surprised by, unexpected correspondences between materials”.

One harmonic,created by the impact of drumstick on ceramic tile,can run into another, emanating this time from a piece of metal or wood. Thus a new texture is created: a mobile, multiple and unified quality which will form the very DNA of Tachycardie for the full duration, or even for only a tiny part of a track.