L’idea di The Gorilla Variations nasce da una commissione dell’artista brasiliano Éder Santos, tre minuti di colonna sonora per la video-installazione “Boxing the Game” il cui protagonista č Idi Amin, non il sanguinario presidente ugandese bensě un solitario primate ospitato nello zoo di Belo Horizonte.
Playing melody against acousmatic timbre for a sonically gratifying intertwining of song structure and soundscape.
This is a rather splendidly hazy childhood nostalgic & harmonic collrabration that utilize a heady & dreamy mixture of guitar’s & bass, electronics, clarinet, electric piano, female vocals, field recording & processing.
An exploration of the possibilities of melody, live interactive performance and post production refinement.
It has the added effect of diluting the sense of location. Environmental sounds such as trickling water, particular and yet universal, only further this effect all the more, allowing the work to come closer as it moves further away.
The bleat of Berg’s clarinet gives the music a distinguishing character, and much the same could be said for the recurring glimmers of electric piano and bright chimes of Vitiello’s electric guitar.
Lots of space to roam amidst ethereal loops, assorted melodic ingenuities and improvisations.
Quite intimate music going on here.
Electroacoustic dubs, digital clickscapes smeared out of the original material, and brightly elliptical patterns that allude to Terry Riley.