Pierre Bastien continues to compose with a screwdriver. His sound devices are made exclusively of raw, physical materials: metal, reed, horsehair, water, ebonite, wood... all powered by electric motors. Over the years, these constructions have become increasingly compact and miniaturized, to the point where they can now be inserted onto the small volume of a trumpet mute. The mute on a trumpet dampens and softens the sound of the instrument. But Pierre's mutes do just the opposite. They add explosions of water bubbles, bow strokes, flute flights, percussion, sanza riffs and harmonium chords to the trumpet sounds: extended by the mechanical mutes, the trumpet becomes an orchestra of multiple timbres.

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