French electronica artist Dorine_Muraille, aka Julien Locquet, uses a fragmented, glitchy approach similar to that of Oval's Markus Popp, rearranging compositions steeped in French tradition into music that is radically different but just as lovely. Locquet also records as :Gel, and has released an Artefact album and a 12" series under that name. For his Dorine_Muraille work, Locquet collaborated with writer Chloe Delaume, whose second novel, Le Cri du Sablier, won much acclaim and several prizes in France's literary circles. Dorine_Muraille's combination of Delaume's delicate singing and surreal lyrics and Locquet's equally fragile yet challenging music debuted on Mani, which the arty U.K. label Fat Cat released as part of their Splinter series in the spring of 2003. Tracks from the album also appeared on several compilations that year, including Fat Cat's own Branches and Routes, Active Suspension's Variable Access, and Plop's Micro Blue. ~ Heather Phares