frrree mon cheri

Bouche Bée [boosh bay] was formed in 2005 by artist and vocalist Emmanuelle Waeckerlé and guitarist Petri Huurinainen.

In Spring 2020, electronic and community musician Peter Keserü joined us. We spent the next two years improvising every few weeks or so, in Emmanuelle’s garden studio in Thornton Heath. Precious times of togetherness during and after lockdown. Each session was recorded. Sometimes we listened to the tracks over dinner.

The collective sound that was emerging had developed a subtle cinematic feel, ethereal and stirring at times. In addition Emmanuelle played with words more often; her own and those of others from her readings at the time (Catherine Keller, François Jullien, Tim Ingold, Luce Irigaray) picking them randomly from pages of her sketchbook.

We had never performed live, yet it felt quite natural to think of making an album. The tracks on ff free mon cheri were selected over 8 months of repeated listening and unanimous selecting, picking those that withstood that process. Jeff Ardron’s subtle mastering revealed a song like quality that surprised us.

Petri Huurinainen: acoustic guitar, bow, ebow, fx pedals
Peter Keserü: samples, iPads, melodica, seaboard, ocarina
Emmanuelle Waeckerlé: voice, Irish drum, ukulele pitch pipe

Recorded by Peter Keserü
Mixed and mastered by Jeff Ardron, St Austral Sound
Photography by Emmanuelle Waeckerlé
Ink drawings by Petri Huurinainen
Design by Earshots