Fabrizio Modonese Palumbo, ELP, Italy, Dissipatio, diss015 CD (2023)
“ELP” is a collection of pieces composed and performed by Turin-based experimental musician Fabrizio Modonese Palumbo for a series of dances performed by choreographer / dancer Paola Bianchi as part of her choreography research project ELP (Ethos, Logos, Pathos) which investigates the physical body and its relationships with the various cultural images and symbols imposed upon it. The music is not intended to be a mere accompaniment to the dances but is part of the research project itself and accordingly adopts the project’s aims; indeed, the very start of “ELP” itself, quoting from the dialogues of “British Sounds”, a 1969 documentary film made by the Dziga Vertov Group (Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Pierre Gorin) in collaboration with Jean-Henri Roger, begins with a declaration: “The bourgeoisie creates a world in its image. Comrades: We must destroy that image!”
Five tracks are featured, all of them fairly quiet and minimalist in style, ranging from the buzzy noise of “O_N” and the slow and introspective, almost metallic droning of “Ekphrasis” to the long, highly immersive ambient droning soundscape of “NoPolis”, and the series of sounds, almost like field recordings, that make up the second long soundscape piece “Energheia”. “Energheia” especially demands quite close listening as it is very much like a tapestry of snippets of repeating melody loops, buzzing alarm clock beats, machine noise, industrial factory ambience and bits of sonic flotsam and jetsam lost in a dark soupy medium. Middle track “Other Otherness” initially seems the most unobtrusive piece, but its low simmering drones become more sinister and ominous, and the other sounds that join the track give an impression of a slowly awakening entity that may turn out to be of mammoth proportions.
Though all five tracks do demand quite close listening, in their own ways they are fascinating and hypnotic pieces, and pulse with energy that, though restrained, is lively and spirited.