Tracer le souffle explores air as trace, examining the porous boundary between human breath, mechanical airflow, friction and resonance. An augmented accordion and performer-controlled electronics create overlapping human, mechanical and technological layers, extending fragile acoustic traces towards saturation and white noise.

Microphones, stereo projection, loops and reverberation transform breath, bellows airflow and friction across the accordion’s elastic body. The performer coordinates these processes physically: one hand modulates air pressure while the other rubs, scrapes and activates the bellows, and the foot controls electronic processing in real time. In selected passages, processed vocal breath introduces another layer into this circulating field.

The accordion is particularly suited to this exploration because respiration and tactile contact coexist within the same instrumental body. Electronic processing extends its finite breath into a continuously changing acoustic space, blurring distinctions between inhalation and airflow, friction and resonance, acoustic trace and technological transformation.