When used with sensible competence, a guitar stimulated by an eBow can generate some among the most mind-enhancing resonances one can fathom. The sum of partials of a given set of strings stretched into an endless line of light definitely helps in an essential process of self-focusing. Tabulatura was entirely devised from this type of source, previously recorded live then multiplied and modified on the computer. Emiliano Romanelli – he of the TU M’ duo with Rossano Polidoro – intelligently chose to let the harmonics speak rather than sticking pretentious theories to the resulting music.
The striking feature of this recording is the firm standing of implicit certainties inside an electroacoustic milieu which, ironically, was born from indetermination. Although we might iron crinkled adjectives such as “wavering”, “droning” and “pulsating”, the truth is that each of the seven tracks is defined by an inborn precision. Things are not surprising, they were not expected to be; after all Romanelli is mostly known for his installations, usually not a field of sudden clashes and jack-in-a-box surprises. These are short fragments of foreverness cut from the cloth of silence, effectively pervasive with just a pinch of silent grieving hidden in a couple of spots. Not always the consequences of randomness translate into chaos: by mixing this quiet invitation to reflection with the whisper of the outside wind amplified by the leaves, this writer managed to give a modicum of direction to an otherwise fairly inconclusive, sad-looking Sunday.
MASSIMO RICCI. TOUCHING EXTREMES. 