Brûlez les meubles: The Guitar and Bass Duo Who Threw Away the Script

The name Brûlez les meubles carries a wry irony. While it literally means "burn the furniture" in English, the Québec duo playfully inverts the common French phrase "sauver les meubles" (preserve the essential). This tension between preservation and reinvention defines their artistic approach, especially on their latest album Folio #5 (Tour de Bras/Circum-Disc, 2024).

The duo of guitarist Louis Beaudoin-de la Sablonnière and bassist Eric Normand has consistently expanded jazz's possibilities by inviting diverse collaborators into their sonic world. Since their 2016 debut, they've worked with luminaries like Jean Derome, Alexandre Robichaud, and Félix Hamel, as well as drummers Tom Jacques, Louis-Vincent Hamel, and John Hollenbeck. For this outing, they've assembled an extraordinary lineup featuring saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, pianist Marianne Trudel, and vibraphonist Jonathan Huard. Most notably, it's their first recording without drums.

"At the beginning, the name reflected how we always play with different people and don't have a steady band," Normand explains. "But now, I see it more like a wish to forget rules and preconceptions and play simple tunes, simply."

That simplicity belies the music's sophistication. The album inhabits a nocturnal space where jazz and chamber music intersect, filled with patient exchanges that unfold like whispered conversations. While previous releases featured drummers who often brought weightless energy rather than aggressive timekeeping, this drum-less configuration opens new textural possibilities.

"Music without drums completely changes the final result," says Beaudoin. "The choice of several harmonic instruments was appealing and gave us another constraint to explore. The blend of piano, vibraphone, and guitar creates an interesting complementary result."

Despite living 500 kilometers apart, Beaudoin in Montreal and Normand in Rimouski, they've developed a unique collaborative method. They exchange hand-written scores and melodic fragments, then work with their guests to shape the final compositions. Each musician brings distinctive experience to the project. Trudel has performed with artists ranging from Charles Aznavour to Kenny Wheeler, while Laubrock's collaborators include Anthony Braxton and Mary Halvorson. Rising star Huard studied at the Rimouski Conservatory of Music and brings fresh perspective to the vibraphone.

"I saw Marianne playing Joni Mitchell's tunes and had a flash to invite her," recalls Normand. "The idea of having Ingrid emerged from discussions with Marianne." The chemistry proved immediate, with both guests contributing compositions alongside the core duo's pieces.

Normand's unique approach to electric bass helps define the group's sound. He plays a homemade five-string instrument with a high C string, seeking what he calls "a dark sound that follows Steve Swallow's influence." His playing balances precise articulation with textural exploration, informed by diverse influences ranging from Jamaaldeen Tacuma to Albert Mangelsdorff's multiphonic trombone techniques.

"Having a precise bass sound without a strong presence and finding a balance with acoustic instruments is hard," Normand notes. "I remember hearing Swallow talking about his search for an airy, precise sound that doesn't play over the other instruments. My sound is quite different from his, but I think he was a huge influence in finding a tone that can fit this project."

Meanwhile, Beaudoin draws from an unusually broad musical palette. A seven-string guitarist by trade, his work spans jazz to metal, including membership in the dance collective Atypique and angular avant-fusion groups Gisèle and Quinos. "I'm working on a series of albums exploring similar musical elements—melodies, rhythms, harmonic progressions—across different genres," he explains. These range from black metal to chanson française, with projects in krautrock and ambient drone forthcoming.

"I'm convinced that listening to, playing, and composing in various styles influences how I play and approach things in Brûlez les meubles," Beaudoin reflects. "Sometimes, I embrace certain aspects of a style while rejecting others. For example, I love using drones, reverb, and the 'wall of blurry sound' effect in shoegaze, but I don't want to compose harmonic progressions in their style. I prefer to mix my more pessimistic harmonies with their timbral approach."

This openness to possibility shapes Folio #5's seven compositions. The album includes structured pieces alongside more experimental works like "Conscience du tragique," inspired by philosopher Clément Rosset's observation that "the paradox of joy is the awareness of the tragic." On such tracks, the musicians work within personal spaces rather than following strict notation, creating a fascinating tension between structure and spontaneity.

"I enjoy it when improvised and composed moments blend to the point where it becomes difficult to tell what's written and what's spontaneous," says Beaudoin. "The project's aesthetic is inspired by the creative jazz tradition of Jimmy Giuffre, Paul Bley, Muhal Richard Abrams, and countless other masters."

The recording process reflected this fluid approach. "Louis and I have a strange relationship with scores," Normand says. "We usually send each other pictures of pencil-written melodies, one-page scores, or ideas of covers to play. Then, we try to adapt to our guests and welcome a couple of their songs." For this album, they integrated Trudel's composition "Vague" and experimented with Normand's "Spider Song," which subtly references two classic jazz standards from the 1950s and '60s in its chord progression.

The album's release on vinyl and digital formats reflects careful consideration of sequence and pacing. "The length is a consequence of what we could fit onto vinyl," Beaudoin notes. "We had more pieces but chose them based on the time limit. It's another interesting limitation."

For Normand, the physical format remains vital to the listening experience. "I love when you take an LP out of the jacket and put it on a proper system," he says. "The vinyl is becoming a new luxury object. We wanted to do something different, handmade by artists in limited edition. Isn't it great to have a break after twenty minutes to turn the disc?"

That attention to detail extends to their live performances, where the material continues to evolve. "Recently, we performed with two drummers, which was aesthetically opposite to Folio #5, even though we played the same repertoire," Beaudoin recalls. "One thing I love about Brûlez les meubles is that I can never imagine the final result."

"Since our music leaves a lot of space for improvisation, all the spontaneous moments arise from conversations," Beaudoin adds. "With five musicians, we can converse as a group of five or in smaller subgroups, and like in real human conversations, these groups shift and change throughout the evening."

This embrace of uncertainty while maintaining high musical standards has become the duo's hallmark. By questioning what's truly essential in their music—what to preserve, what to burn away—they've created something both adventurous and intimate, a quiet revolution in contemporary jazz that speaks volumes about the possibilities of collective creation.

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