The optimal balance for electroacoustic music composers should be struck between the clarity with which their aural hypotheses are proposed and the capacity to summon up vivid feelings in the audience. A transcendence of form and meaning while preserving some aspect of humanity, albeit highly advanced, could be the ideal outcome. Mario Verandi, an Argentinean living in Berlin, masterfully demonstrates at least a few of the previously described traits in Lucent Shores.
Even though Verandi conveys a lot of information in a variety of procedures, his material is logical and sharp, leaving a mark on the ears and memory. In terms of acoustical unorthodoxy, it combines concrete elements of the auditory content with skillful manipulations, stretched reverberations, and a rational editing that makes it rather flavorful. Furthermore, the five-track set maintains a consistent emotional core throughout, revealed in a series of constantly mutating milieus including utopian soundscapes, hints of spectralism, and environmental alteration.
The program’s coherence and overall beauty are attributable to several undercurrents, which also aid in appreciating its wholeness. The almost literal liquefaction of materiality in “Unlike Untold”; the dissection and virtual reconstruction of the mystique of articulatory phonetics in “De Voces, Diálogos Y Ausencias”; the aptly titled “Bellscape”, brilliantly exploiting the inherent or explicit resonances of a carillon’s constituents. Just three among Verandi’s countless examples of acousmatic poetics, where listeners are always granted the room they need to adjust mentally. Or, if so preferred, new methods for traversing across compelling sonorities while remaining rooted to reality.
MASSIMO RICCI. TOUCHING EXTREMES. 