One Parisian who’s familiar with that very process is Loup Barrow, albeit for different purposes. He’s mainly based in France, but has experimented with many exotic instruments in a variety of locations – steel pan drums in Guadeloupe, the glass harp in Venice, African percussion in Morocco, and the erhu fiddle in China. In 2005, Barrow also got to meet his fellow French musician, Bernand Baschet, who personally introduced him to yet another innovative instrument, one which he had conceived alongside his brother François back in the 1950s— the Cristal Baschet, described as “a delicate glass organ comprised of 56 chromatically-tuned glass rods.”

The Baschet brothers only got around to producing a small number of Cristal Baschets — for the most part, you’re likelier to see this glass instrument behind glass itself, at the Music Museum in Paris for instance, rather than performed onstage anywhere. Yet Barrow was one of the lucky few who managed to get his hands on this piano-sized glass delicacy.

Impressively enough, he also managed to transport it from Paris all the way out to Finistère, the westernmost region of mainland France. Like much of the rest of the province of Brittany, Finistère is dominated by a coastal seaside atmosphere, and all that fresh air evidently provided Barrow with plenty of positive artistic inspiration as he set about composing new music in self-imposed isolation out there.

Loup Barrow: My last albums, The Kite in 2015 and Silent Witness in 2019, were collaborations. I recorded The Kite in 2015 with Guo Gan, grand master of the Erhu (Chinese two-stringed fiddle) after doing a series of concerts in China with him. In 2019, for Silent Witness,  I collaborated with Radek Bond Bednarz and Mieko Myazaki.

With Immineo, I wanted to write a symphonic album in which the Cristal Baschet would be the common thread. The inspiration came in one go. I had this album inside me for a few years.

Loup Barrow: I was born into a family of musicians. From my very first day, I’ve been nurtured by music. I didn’t follow a classical curriculum, but I was in contact with the classical repertoire from a very early age. At the age of five, I took violin lessons in London with the first violin concertmaster of the London Symphony Orchestra. I tried my hand at various instruments before coming across the Cristal Baschet, which won me over. In 2005, I crossed paths with the Baschet brothers, electro-acoustic geniuses who, in the 20th century, invented the Cristal Baschet, the centerpiece of their work. The Cristal Baschet is an instrument on which I can express a wide range of artistic choices: melodic, harmonic, rhythmic. It’s a unique instrument, and very impressive in terms of the playing possibilities it gives me, thanks to its acoustic design.

Loup Barrow: A place puts you in a mood, a way of being in the world. When I’m in Paris, I feel as much in my element as when I’m in Finistère. I adapt to the environment and let myself be influenced by what’s going on around me. With an open-minded attitude, I take full advantage of what’s around me. It’s a luxury to be able to draw inspiration from both the noise of the city and wilderness.

Loup Barrow: I never stop writing music. I have a lot of musical folders full of melodic, harmonic, [and] rhythmic sequences which are used in projects or which are kept for future projects. For me, writing music is a way of life. I record regularly in my home studio. Recording Immineo was a great opportunity. It came just at the right time in my life and I thank Sonic Ritual for the great work we have achieved together.

Loup Barrow: “Passio” and “Abdita Telluris,” the two singles released before the album, set the tone for the album without giving it away. I thought they were a good introduction to the album. Each piece is unique and the two singles do not represent the entire album; they are part of it.