Non-places is a collection of sound constructions inspired by non-places—public places that are often, though not exclusively, of commercial purpose, and that impart a sense of anonymity or dis-placement to those who pass through them and use them to their own ends.
Each piece is a layered composition that interprets a selected non-place. Taking a field recording of a non-place as the fundamental stratum, Barbiero composed and performed a part on double bass, which Bocci then subjected to electronic deconstruction and reconstruction: filtering frequencies, building rhythmic cells and ostinati from fragments of melody, looping the double bass to counterpoint itself, and when called for, adding a 6-string electric bass melody doubling the original composition. (Repetition is an underlying motif of the non-place, and consequently of many of these compositions.)
Sounds estranged from themselves, appropriated and integrated into an encompassing project that ultimately returns them to themselves: the compositional process mimics, in its own way, the complex dialectic of alienation and appropriation that is the hallmark of the non-place. And yet anonymity and repetition by no means foreclose emotion--which will break through in a melodic passage just as it might on a train ride home.
PRESS
"Excellent piece of work" The Sound Projector
Selected as one of the best 2017 album by Avant Music News
"Barbiero and Bocci use traditional instruments, as well as the non-traditional ones, as a means to the end of characterizing their atopias." Avant Music News
"A top class experiment, both from a conceptual point of view, and taking into consideration the end result." Traks
" 'Non-Places' is an album of amazing, original music" Opduvel
"Marvelous" Towards the Margins
""Non-Places" is brilliant, with its imaginative use of field recordings" World Of Abstract Dreams
"It’s fascinating both on a conceptual level and as a listening experience, and full of sounds that you’ve never heard before." Exposé
"Daniel Barbiero & Cristiano Bocci amazingly meld together on Non-places[...] With their collective talent, any journey would be one to take." Lost In A Sea Of Sound
"On “Non-Places” Daniel Barbiero and Cristiano Bocci explore unusual terrain with the utmost of ease." Beach Sloth
"If you would like to experience a new frontier of music as art, I highly recommend investigating further" The Pulse
"Barbiero and Bocci are both extremely talented individuals that came together to create a work of art" The Voice Magazine
credits
released September 30, 2017
Daniel Barbiero: double bass; prepared double bass on “Turnpike Suite;” field recordings
Cristiano Bocci: electronics; electric bass; field recordings
with Matteo Ranieri, harmonica on “Train to Siena.”
Recorded September-December 2016 in Silver Spring (USA) and Follonica (Italy)
Assembled and mixed by Cristiano Bocci
Mastered by Mark Beazley in Walthamstow, London
Artwork by Marinella Caslini (www.disgrafica.com)
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