The Mohs scale (L'Échelle de Mohs, NoT) of mineral hardness characterizes the scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of a harder material to scratch a softer material. It was created in 1812 by the German mineralogist Friedrich Mohs and is one of several definitions of hardness in materials science. It is graduated from 1 for talc to 10 for diamond.
L'Échelle de Mohs is also a trio created in 2003, iconoclastic in its formation : a Singer-screamer-accordionist (Claire Bergerault), a guitarist-drummer-noise maker (Fabrice Favriou) and a phonograph player-fiddler-field recorder (Thomas Tilly, alias Tô). Three musicians already active for many years in the field of musical research and improvisation.
Thanks to the diversity of their musical influences (from most extreme rock to contemporary music via sound poetry and electro-acoustic music), they give their formation a most atypical form from the very start. This approach will characterise the artistic orientation of the band for its future productions.
Modelled on the principle of total improvisation and on the dynamics of materials that compose it, the music of l'E.D.M. is massive and granular. Its unstable forms, between sonic magma and electro-acoustic filigrees, can also become minimalist and controlled, like abstract shapes peopled with concrete materials.
The formation performs for the first time at the Carré Bleu in Poitiers in 2004. Following a second concert programmed by par Jazz à Poitiers, in 2006, l'Échelle de Mohs publish a record immediately supported by international distributor Metamkine.
Enriched and strengthened by the experience and several other concerts done after wards (festival NPAI), the bands tours in 2007 in France and Switzerland (namely at mythical European experimental music temple CAVE12, in Geneva).
Through l’Échelle de Mohs, Fabrice, Claire and Thomas make real the fruit of the reflections they've been having throughout their personal musical researches. Questioning among other things the notion of physicality of the sound and then, the status of the spectator in the place of performance, l’E.D.M. is a constant laboratory, adapting concert venues and always focused on acoustics. The structure and musical construction are here diverted and become the affirmation of a proper sound aesthetic, ridding the listener of any usual musical scheme.
2010 sees l'Échelle de Mohs take a step higher with several concerts performed (Metz, Rennes, Paris, Le Mans...), to present a creation made with video artist Thomas Chatard during residential work in December 2009 at Carré Bleu in Poitiers. The band also publish a 500-limited-copies split vinyl record with Belgian duo Solar Skeletons, and co-produced by label Bruits de Fond with 4 other micro-structures.
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