Guillaume & the Coutu Dumonts: Face à Lest

Working with a multitude of artists under a slew of different monikers, Guillaume Coutu Dumont has displayed a keen eye for production technique and house sensibilities during his career as a producer. Based out of Montreal, the French Canadian DJ has lent a hand to many of his peers who regularly perform at the city’s MUTEK festival — recording on the festival’s sister label, MUTEK_Rec. This first full-length as a solo artist brings Dumont’s jazz and classical training into the realm of beats and funk-inflected house music. The songs on Face à L’est seem to revolve around the idea of rhythm and the all-encompassing house beat. A trip to Senegal to travel the country with a jazz ensemble reportedly inspired Dumont to concentrate on the relationship between music and movement, a concept which probably dates back to the times before Newtonian physics. The album is a worthy effort from the prolific producer, but those without a strong tolerance for lengthy minimalist techno compositions, and club friendly beats might have a hard time finding anything on Face à L’est to get excited about. Dumont might be better-suited focusing his stellar production techniques on collaborations with other artists — his current project seems to utilize his ample talents to an unsatisfying end.