When
seen from an unfamiliar viewpoint, even the most familiar object can seem
outlandishly alien. Under extreme magnification, oil on the surface of water is
a rioting nebula of color; an eggshell is a new planet of plunging valleys and
treacherous cliffs. These perceptual cracks in the everyday insure that nothing
can be too familiar, that alien encounters may be as likely found within as
"out there." Fissures,
the new collaboration between conceptual electronic composers ALIO DIE (Stefano
Musso) and ROBERT RICH, is the soundtrack for such psychic displacements, an
acoustic and electronic report on the commerce between nature and technology,
and structure and amorphism. The music is a rendezvous of divine symmetries,
balancing Alio Die's centerless, synthetic beds of sound and Rich's subtle
progressions and instrumental arcana. Characterized by recognizable shifts in
color - from the strangely familiar surges of half-remembered novenas, to the
rhythmic nodes that reflect nature's ceremony - Fissures marks a unique juncture
in two innovative artists' careers. "Stefano and I met in 1991, when he
wrote asking me to contribute to a compilation, and sent me a CD of his debut
album, Under An Holy Ritual. I thought it was excellent, and we quickly formed a
strong musical rapport," explains Rich. "Stefano is a sound
constructionist who is very sensitive to layers and slow, subtle juxtapositions.
His music has a real nostalgia, eerie but not dark. His contribution is
sometimes more felt than heard." Musso's role in plotting many of the
abstract sounds and drones on Fissures yields some trademark Alio Die moments,
such as the haunting phase shifts of "Mycelia" and strange metallic
chords of "The Road to Wirikuta."
Bonds to the natural world played a strong part in the conception of Fissures, as Rich explains. The album's vast sonic panoramas have origins in
both theoretical and practical considerations: "I know it's a controversial
thing to say, but synthesizers aren't capable of certain things. The organic,
animal connection you have to the sound making process is lost. That's why
Stefano and I approached the recording by employing all the technologies
available to us, which includes many acoustic instruments. The sound sources on
Fissures are amazingly acoustic, while electronic processing plays a role in
setting the atmosphere." Likewise, the perceptual cracks through which the
listener falls are those that derange the common outlook of the world. "In
the microcosmic world, when you look at details under a microscope, you get a
sense of the vastness of minutiae. The hugeness of the music in Fissures mirrors
the hugeness of the single-celled organism when seen acutely, closely."
Alan
Rupp
On
this exquisitely dark ambient odissey, Robert Rich and Alio Die (Stefano Musso)
explore the boundaries between inner and outer,past and present, and darkness
and light,guiding us through the fissures of mind and soul that connect all
these realms. Ominous drones,textures and samples from Alio Die provide the
perfect backdrop for Rich's synths,acoustic percussion,flute,dulcimer and steel
guitar. On "A Canopy of Shivers", a waterspout draws liquid sounds
from the depths. Fluter waver, distorted by the blue-green waters,as
conch-trumpets sound. Surrounded by warm,fluid keyboards, you are tossed about
at the mercy of the waves, till you slowly begin to rise toward the surface,
smiling at the mirrored stars floating above your head. "Mycelia"
excavates a forgotten ritual in an ancient cavern. A tribal drum beats softly
but insistently as a flute breathes life into prehistoric wall paintings,
animating strange creatures that zip back and forth in the shadows just beyond
the leaping firelight . The epic "The Road to Wirikuta" continues the
ceremony; each time the drum is stuck multicolored ripples of sound expand
outward, illuminating the invisible strands connecting sky, sea and earth, and
all the creatures that dwell therein, into the incredibly intricate web of life.
Dave Aftandilian / Alternative Press sept '97
Robert
Rich gives his fascinating,fertile imagination a chance to stretch out with his
chops on synths, flutes, percussion, dulcimer,and steel guitar on this
spacemusic pairing with Alio Die (a.k.a. Stefano Musso). The somber, majestic
first track "Turning to Stone" possesses a wind-swept, liquid
undertone that conjures images of water dripping off stalactites in desert caves.
The deep bombast of an underground stream emerging into the sunlight introduces
the mesmerzing piece "A Canopy of Shivers" unusual metallic percussive
accents propel this darkly resonant instrumental outing, yet no sense of
isolation is imparted by the music. Instead, one grows ever more curious about
these ambient landscapes as the music winds its way on "The Road to
Wirikuta"
New Age Retailer Sept. 1997
With
"Fissures" the Rich's eleventh or twelfth release he continues a
series of unexpected and extraordinary collaborations. Although Rich's lushly
textured, deeply exotic solo work is consistently moving, it is rarely dangerous.
This element of menace does, however, permeate Fissures. Noted Italian
electronic artist Alio Die (Stefano Musso) has long delved into such dank realms,
and his influence on the resulting music is powerful, but hardly overwhelming.
Rich's strong melodic sense and warm,organic playing balance musso's dark
droning textures. Fissures is meditative, ritualistic music, often unsetting but
always rich and alluring.
Under the Vulcano July 1997
On
this latest album, Fissures, composer Robert Rich departs Somewhat from the dark
ambiences and neo-primitive soundscapes that have characterized his most recent
work. Though these elements are still present to some degree, along with Rich's
ongoing interest in things primordial, this collaboration with Italian
sound-shaper Alio Die moves into lighter, more open-ended, even lyrical
territory. Alio's subtly shifting drones and washes form the spacious context
for seven sonic excursions, with Rich's synthesizers, steel guitar and acoustic
instruments probing the cracks (the fissures of the album's title) between
different worlds or levels of perception. The result is a slowly unfolding,
meditative journey, punctuated by mysterious but non-threatening crackling,clanking
and crunching noises, and sweetened by bursts of birdsong. On such pieces as
"Mycelia", "The Divine Radiance of Invertebrates" and "Tree
of the Wind" we slip into a mysterious but welcoming microcosmic world of
unexpectedly huge vistas and luminous detail to merge expanded and revitalized.
Real
to Reels News May/June 1997