Pinkcourtesyphone is a project of Richard Chartier, an acclaimed sound designer and installation artist who runs the Line label. While Chartier's work under his own name is explicitly reductionist, focusing on deep, extended tones and their relation to silence, the Pinkcourtesyphone project is much more expressive. Constantly evoking a dreamlike state, its recordings feature billowing ambient loops, field recordings, detached monologue samples, and a somewhat cinematic quality. Constantly bathed in ethereal echo, there's an oddly seductive feel to the music, with yearning, fragmented vocal samples and noir-like melodic loops. Although Chartier had been recording under the Pinkcourtesyphone moniker since the late '90s, the project made its proper debut in 2012 with the release of two full-lengths, Elegant & Detached (on Lawrence English's Room40 label) and Foley Folly Folio (on Line). The project immediately received praise from experimental music circles, and more recordings followed, including an edited vinyl issue of Foley Folly Folio, released by Boomkat Editions in 2013. Also that year, Pinkcourtesyphone collaborated with Kid Congo Powers, who contributed vocals to the more techno-influenced Phototrashed EP, released by Canadian label IO Sound. This was followed by Please Pick Up, a full-length remix album featuring contributions by Yves De Mey, Frank Bretschneider, COH, and others, ranging from drone to Coil-like industrial to dub techno. Two full-lengths followed in 2014: A Ravishment of Mirror (on the relaunched Dragon's Eye Recordings) and the heartbreaking Description of Problem (on Line), which featured collaborations with William Basinski, Cosey Fani Tutti, AGF, and others. In 2015, Three Themes was released digitally by Line, consisting of extended versions of pieces from earlier Pinkcourtesyphone albums. This was followed by the full-length Sentimental Something, released by Important Records. At the end of 2016, Editions Mego released Pinkcourtesyphone's Taking into Account Only a Portion of Your Emotions. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi