Balance, a rare condition these days. The ability to file away joys, sorrows, illusions and disappointments in a practical way for the inner self. If that’s hard enough to accomplish in a situation of normality, it’s even worse when putting into account the clouds of mental disease surrounding beings who tear each other apart in order to impose their will on the weaker. Relief – or, at least, an attempt to locate some – is to be found (as always) in sonic inspection. Thomas Dimuzio knows something about it, he knows a lot. He spent his career in relative obscurity, but is abundantly prolific as far as unorthodox timbres are concerned, not to mention recordings. Hey, if your sound libraries are considered useful by the producers of X-Files, they must be quite special.
Throughout decades of experimentation, Dimuzio has fine-tuned a sympathetic reactivity to varying specimens of instrumentalists fruitfully relating to the “tangibly nonfigurative” emanations of his eclecticism. He gathered many examples of said processes in Balance, a triple CD subdivided in duos, trios and combos featuring a genuine elite of clever experimentalists. Audience-wise, such an operation determines a constant upheaval of the electroacoustic landscape. An experience in multiple-genre listening will surely help.
Each track is, in the truest sense of the definition, a unique story, multifaceted combinations of talents opening up imaginative avenues across top-notch instant compositions. Drastic abstractionism, agnostic exploration of distressing nuances, intelligently ironic noise, insurrection and subsequent takeover by what is normally inaudible, or just unconventional. You’ll definitely pick a few favorites along the path; mine mostly lie in the “Duos” disc, notably the pieces with Larry Thrasher, David Lee Myers and Xopher Davidson. However, a total immersion is mandatory, possibly without interruptions. Feeding a continuous current is essential when it comes to enhancing the psyche’s connectivity.
Dimuzio considers Balance a sort of hopeful homage to the concept of live collaboration, as we all wait for things to return to a decent level of regularity. He is frustrated by the lack of in-the-flesh artistic interaction in this historical period, but reacts in constructive fashion, for himself and for all those who keep open ears and unpolluted brains. What is needed to absorb these stimulating energies is a profound understanding of diversity; in that regard, the list of performers speaks for itself. All the more eloquent is the vibe transmitted by their union with a lone rider who does not like loneliness, yet maintains the desired state of balance thanks to the divergent sonorities he keeps seeking and finding.
MASSIMO RICCI. TOUCHING EXTREMES. 