In De distance et toucher, Julien Malaussena explores the meeting point between two instruments from very different worlds: the saxophone, with which he is deeply familiar and for which he has composed extensively, and the koto, an instrument he was discovering for the first time. Rather than relying on the koto’s traditional playing techniques, which are closely tied to a musical heritage he neither sought to reproduce nor imitate, he chose to reinvent his approach to the instrument. By working directly with a koto throughout the creation process, he was able to uncover and develop sound possibilities that remain largely unexplored, integrating them into his own musical language and distinctive sonic universe.