Shortly after the first release created in collaboration with field-recordist Carlo Giordani, out on Taâlem since February, I am truly proud to introduce a new full-lenght CD – released by St.An.Da./Silentes – which is part of the same body of work that Carlo and me have patiently built during 2011-2019.
In 2005 I had the chance to know Carlo Giordani’s work through Paolo Ippoliti – of Logoplasm fame – who had hosted a large collection of his field-recordings on the S’agita Recordings website. At a time when the field-recordings craze was beginning to spread, I immediately realized that Carlo was a veteran in this… field! A grown man with a very peculiar listening talent and technical ability, as well as a special sensitivity.
After re-proposing some of his works on a digital compilation that celebrated the first ten years of Afe Records, Carlo and I remained in touch, often exchanging recordings and opinions, but without trying our hands in a ‘real’ collaboration.
In 2011 Massimo Indellicati of Ambiente H finally gave us the opportunity to work together, inviting us to provide music to accompany some of his experimental movies, whose main theme was “water”. That was the input which, over the years, again to satisfy Massimo’s need for a soundtrack to his many projects – including the installation “Aquology – Oceano interiore” – led to the creation of a series of pieces that Carlo and I decided to collect under the title “Impressioni organizzate di ansie liquide” (“Organized Impressions of Liquid Anxieties”).
As already mentioned, the first part in this series, entitled “Furia e abbandono (galleggiare, annaspare, arrendersi e lasciarsi trasportare)” – which translates into “Fury and Abandonment (floating, struggling, surrendering and being carried away)”, was recently released by Taâlem. Originally exceeding 30 minutes, it was completely revised to suit the 3″ MiniCDr format.
Following the release on Taâlem, I approached Stefano Gentile – founder of the memorable Amplexus and now head of the well known Silentes and 13 labels, among others – and he was kind enough to offer us a slot on St.An.Da., one of his many creatures.
Despite the hard times that we all had to live in the recent months and the many restrictions that such an awful new reality has brought in, it only took a few weeks to finalize this release. Stefano was particularly supportive of this project, and the artwork is graced by pictures that he took on purpose, while listening to the music on headphones during a solitary excursion on a late winter day.
The CD includes the second and third long parts of a total of five, namely “Ansia e sollievo (allarmi, turbinii e vortici, con quieto finale)” – which translates into “Anxiety and Relief (alarms, swirls and whirls, with quiet ending)”, and “Attesa (con immutabile presenza, il lento scorrere)” – which is Italian for “Waiting (with unchanging presence, the slow flowing)”.
Both tracks include exceptional field-recordings made by Carlo during an expedition he took in July 2011 at the dams of Venerocolo and Pantano dell’Avio Lakes in the Brescia district, Northern Italy. Both dams are located in restricted areas and permission had to be granted to visit them. As you easily guess, this is not your everyday/average stuff, but a precious audio-documentation of two very particular places usually accessible only to the personnel who keep them running.
Other field-recordings which are part of these compositions were taken in a metalworking factory and they include a giant electric oven, a 6000-ton press, machineries that move wreckage to melt it down… You get the picture.
Treatments to the original recordings were done by Carlo and me, using INA-GRM plug-ins and other software. My contributions were created mainly with hardware analogue and digital synthesizers: Korg MS-20, Waldorf Microwave XT and my favourite, the mighty Roland JD-800. I also sampled and re-played some of the field-recordings taken by Carlo, and added other audio samples from my personal library.
The title we gave to the final work is clearly inspired to the sensations that the tracks gave us upon repeated, and repeated, and repeated, listening. The titles we choose for the various parts are also inspired by that, but also have a ‘technical’ side which pertains to some of the field-recordings that were used in them.
We believe that we were successful at ‘melting’ our different sound worlds and attitudes, me and my synthesizers and Carlo and his field-recordings. We are fond that the various elements sustain each other and that the tracks have a strong narrative and evocative potential.