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Parallel 41

Parallel 41

(Baskaru / COD&S Distribution)

DATE DE SORTIE

00/07/2012

GENRE

Electronique

STYLE

Expérimental / Improvisation / Néo-Classique / Field Recordings

LIENS

Baskaru

Julia Kent

Barbara De Dominicis

Nous l’avions évoqué lors de la sortie de cet album, Parallel41 est une collaboration entre Julia Kent et Barbara De Dominicis. La première vit à New York, la seconde à Naples, et les deux villes sont plus ou moins situées sur le 41ème parallèle, donnant ainsi un nom à leur projet commun. Nous avons déjà chroniqué quelques concerts de Julia Kent, violoncelliste notamment connue pour avoir travaillé avec Antony and the Johnson, auteur de trois albums solo dont le dernier, Character est sorti chez Leaf. Nous ne connaissions pas Barbara De Dominicis, plus portée sur l’improvisation, posant généralement sa voix, son chant sur des field recordings et autres manipulations électroniques. Le duo est ici aidé par Davide Lonardi, auteur d’un film de 35mn qui figure sur un DVD bonus afin de documenter la création de cet album.

Pour qui ne connait que le travail de Julia Kent, cet album peut surprendre, mais les indices ne sont livrés qu’avec parcimonie. La piste qui sert d’ouverture est plutôt équilibrée entre la part des deux femmes : on reconnait tout de suite le style de Julia Kent, plutôt doux, calme et mélancolique, et on découvre la voix de l’Italienne, d’abord chantante et accrocheuse, reprise un peu plus loin sous forme de sifflements, avant d’alterner entre chant et spoken word (Illusory Rendez-Vous). Afin de parfaire cette rencontre, les deux femmes ont enregistré ce disque à la fois à New York et en Italie que ce soit dans un loft, un centre culturel, une ancienne forteresse ou un vieux tunnel abandonné dans les montagnes. Barbara De Dominicis travaillant régulièrement avec des sonorités ambiantes, la localisation des enregistrements fait partie intégrante de la musique de Parallel41. Des bruits de pas, des oiseaux à Valdapozzo sur The Naked City, le bruit mécanique d’un train, une annonce dans un hall de gare, une sirène, une fanfare sur un Herald Street qui reste très abstrait.

Justement, notre plus grosse surprise est la variété des morceaux qui composent cet album. Les deux femmes alternent entre des pièces de 8-9 minutes assez faciles à appréhender, et ce que l’on qualifiera d’interludes, de courts morceaux dominés par l’improvisation et l’expérimentation. Si à la première écoute on trouve le travail des deux femmes plutôt équilibré, on a finalement le sentiment que Barbara De Dominicis, de part la richesse de son jeu, insuffle le style singulier de cette production. On l’a vu, elle chante, parle, siffle, murmure, mais elle prend aussi toutes sortes d’intonations allant jusqu’à nous faire penser à Bjork sur Eyes Of Eyes et l’électronique lui permet d’appliquer des effets inattendus, comme si sa voix sortait d’un vieux poste radio (Call Him Now), à la fois susurrée et puissante sur Out Of Season. Julia Kent est cantonnée au violoncelle et effets, ce qui semble limiter un peu son registre, même si elle surprendra ses fans sur le très expérimental 2 Jet Legs, usant de grincements et rapides accords rythmiques. Mais rassurez-vous, on a plaisir à la retrouver sur des pièces plus longues, langoureuses, croisant pincements rythmiques et boucles mélodiques, particulièrement réussi quand les deux femmes sont au diapason (The Naked City).

Le DVD est en fait un documentaire qui enchaîne séquences d’interview et d’enregistrement, une autre façon d’écouter leur musique, comprendre le contexte de leur composition, avec quelques réflexions sur la création, un parallèle justement qui est évoqué entre New York et Naples.

Fabrice ALLARD

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http://www.thenewnoise.it/parallel-41-parallel-41/

DISCHI

PARALLEL 41, Parallel 41

di FABRIZIO GARAU

• 19/06/2014 • 19:56

Recupero quest’album per il suo valore. Non è uscito oggi, ma era un tassello che mancava al nostro mosaico delle galassie sperimentali “italiane” e non ci costa davvero nulla parlarne e dargli una vetrina in più, della quale non ha comunque bisogno. Barbara De Dominicis (voce, elettronica, field recordings) e Julia Kent vivono lungo il quarantunesimo parallelo (Napoli e New York) e si sono incontrate più volte per registrare questo disco, in luoghi diversi che si possono percepire come parte integrante del tutto, sia nel concreto (i suoni del traffico, dei passi, delle voci…), sia come ispirazione (le due protagoniste improvvisano sul posto). Sarà banale, ma non si stenta a credere che un ex lanificio eserciti influenze diverse rispetto a uno studio a New York, piuttosto che un luogo in mezzo alla campagna o Forte Marghera, infatti le sensazioni cambiano se la cornice sonora è costituita da campagne ariose anziché dal casino modernissimo di “Herald Street”, però – al di là di questo – il carattere forte di entrambe le artiste è la costante che si percepisce in modo chiaro. Se i field recordings, l’elettronica e gli effetti si sostituiscono al resto di una ipotetica band (possiamo immaginarli come delle percussioni o come delle tastiere), ciò che conta è il violoncello di Kent, messo in loop o meno, a seconda dei momenti malinconico, severo o disorientante, unito (o in contrasto) all’interpretazione (a volte sovra-interpretazione) seducente ed iper-eclettica di De Dominicis. A riprova di questo, spesso a un certo punto le due lasciano perdere il contesto in cui si trovano, si staccano e portano il disco in un luogo “altro” dalla realtà.

Il disco è molto interessante, perché – a seconda del proprio background – si può ascoltare una cantante, entrando però in contatto con un mondo di sperimentazioni, così come si possono ascoltare sperimentazioni ambientali, entrando però in contatto con la melodia e una bellezza più tradizionale.

“Faraway Close”, documentario/road movie di 35 minuti girato da Davide Lonardi, mostra alcune fasi della realizzazione del progetto di Kent e De Dominicis. Assemblato con intelligenza e classe (almeno agli occhi di un profano), spalanca le porte della comprensione quando fa vedere le due musiciste registrare le loro improvvisazioni in un tunnel abbandonato di Bolzano, subito in prossimità di un fiume: vento, acqua, alberi e roccia che sono il tappeto ritmico naturale di Parallel 41, senza parlare dell’acustica, del freddo, del doversi coprire: arte tra le macerie, ma in fondo non dovrebbe essere sempre così?

Mastering a cura di Lawrence English, andatevelo a sentire che è meglio.

Tracklist

01. Illusory Rendez-Vous 02. Jet Legs 03. The Naked City 04. Eyes Of Eyes 05. Une Journée d’un Sud Sans Soleil 06. Call Him Now 07. Herald Street 08. Out Of Season 09. Voiceless Laughter

- See more at: http://www.thenewnoise.it/parallel-41-parallel-41/#sthash.VJtTEKie.dpuf

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Best Video

Julia Kent, Barbara de Dominicis & Davide Lonardi, “Faraway Close” (Baskaru)

Not a music video in the strictest sense, but too beautiful not to include. Davide Lonardi’s stately film accompanied the Parallel 41 album and provided an insight into the way the it was created. Setting up in abandoned buildings, old tunnels and sometimes in the middle of the street, cellist Julia Kent and sound artist Barbara de Dominicis used locations in each others’ countries (the US and Italy, respectively) to convey on record what they called a “psychic telegraph line that crosses oceans.” Lonardi was there to capture the magic.

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Parallel41 (#4 album: Parallel41, Baskaru)

(Barbara Di Dominicis) In regards to a possible 2012 favourite album, we are aware of how difficult and somehow unfair is to make a choice, especially given the huge amount of beautiful music produced (even within niches) and the little time we have to listen to it.

Anyway, I'd start with Architecture of Loss, the third full-length by Icelandic composer Valgeir Sigurðsson and an intense and dark work—actually the score for a ballet by Stephen Petronio and mostly focused on fragmented orchestral themes dominated by unsettling strings sections. The affichès collected in the thirty-eight minutes of the opera gradually create a deep and quivering sound fabric in balance between comforting fragmentsof melodies and palpitating rhythm torsions. Another outstanding discovery for me, late in the year, has been Paraphrases by Christopher Berg, a work resembling pictorial miniatures designed by measuring out with great expertise the piano, the violin, and the cello to delineate dense sound landscapes where one can get lost. An extra mention goes to the extremely accurate work by the label Fac-ture: the album is wrapped in a wonderfully artistic packaging enriched by Aela Labbé's unique shots. I could go on rattling off the works I fell in love with, but to avoid excessive divagations I want to conclude by mentioning Bérangère Maximin's album on Sub Rosa. No one is an island (including, among others, the generous collaboration of Frédéric D. Oberland) collects the sound fragments characterizing our daily world and channels them in a dense and hypnotic flow in which one can immerse him/herself.

(Julia Kent) This year I have found myself returning again and again to pianist Matthew Bourne's Montauk Variations (Leaf), a musically complex, intimate, and utterly beautiful record. I also this year discovered the music of Schneider TM (Dirk Dresselhaus), whose album Construction Sounds (Bureau B), based on field recordings of building activity in Berlin, is both conceptually and sonically brilliant. And the 2012 releases by Balmorhea, Gareth Dickson, Motion Sickness of Time Travel, Lone, Robert Hood, and Hammock have been highlights for me as well.

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2012 TOP 10s TEXTURA

PARALLEL 41 n_ 04. in TEXTURA'S TOP 2012

Parallel41: Parallel41 (Baskaru)

Parallel 41 is both a provocative group project and self-titled recording from Barbara De Dominicis (voice, field recordings, electronics) and Julia Kent (cello, looping, effects); in addition to a CD presenting the duo's nine improvised settings, Parallel 41also includes a DVD featuring Faraway Close, a thirty-five minute video by Davide Lonardi featuring footage shot in Naples and New York that effectively documents the project's development and scope. The release beautifully captures the bold marriage of De Dominicis' vocalizing and Kent's beautiful, full-bodied tone. Baskaru presented the project superbly, too, with the discs housed within a sturdy, large format sleeve design and covered by a protective box (original review).

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PARALLEL_°41 Number 8 LP 2012

The beautiful and beguling Parallel 41 is a record pieced together by Julia Kent (cello),Barbara De Dominicis voice, field recordings and electronics and Davide Lonardi film making, images, artwork "...PARALLEL_°41 _Over the past months, Julia Kent, Barbara De Dominicis and Davide Lonardi have been making a musical/visual/improvisatory record as Parallel 41 _the imaginary parallel that ties Naples and New York on the same latitude line. The tracks evolved from a series of extemporary and improvised recording sessions made outdoors and held between September 2009 and august 2010. These sessions are now an album and a little story in images..."

The video below showcase the sound and vision of the band in live setting

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POSTED BY PHATTONE AT 3:45 PM 

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Arte sul Quarantunesimo parallelo, Napoli, New York

La ricerca si è frammentata e ricomposta fino ad ancorarsi a una latitudine, il 41° parallelo: Napoli e New York, Lisbona, Viseu, fino al Sannio ed a Istambul

di Pasquale Napolitano - Mar, 22/01/2013 - 14:30

Le categorie di lontano e vicinocostituiscono un binomio concettuale che in qualche modo riguarda tutti, coinvolgendo il nostro rapporto tra psiche e mondo, indipendentemente dalla lingua o dall’appartenenza.

A questo proposito Barbara De Dominicis (sound artist e performer partenopea) e Julia Kent (violoncellista newyorchese), anche se provengono da mondi lontani e diversi, divisi da un oceano, si sono dimostrate molto più vicine di quanto si possa immaginare, così come testimoniato da questo progetto di mappatura sonora giocata sul tema del quarantunesimo parallelo: Napoli e New York, in primis, ma anche Lisbona e Viseu, fino al Sannio ed a Istambul, in una continua oscillazione tra dimensione globale e locale: «Anti-Gone è stato un primo tentativo di conciliare una forma chiusa, simil-canzone, con slanci più anarchici legati soprattutto alla voglia di utilizzare i suoni casuali dell’ambiente accumulati a margine di una serie di viaggi. Nel frattempo, la curiosità crescente per il paesaggio sonoro mi ha spinta a continuare la raccolta di suoni ambientali. La ricerca si è dilatata, frammentata e ricomposta fino ad ancorarsi a una latitudine: il “41° parallelo”», così racconta la sound artist partenopea Barbara De Dominicis.

  Ma anche Napoli e Napoli, Partenope e Nea-polis, probabilmente il meglio ed il peggio in assoluto, città in grado di essere descritta, più di un secolo addietro (ma non sorprenderebbe leggerla datata ai giorni nostri) in questo modo: «Napoli ha il più grande splendore accanto alla più grande miseria, accanto a ciò la natura paradisiaca, impareggiabile», parole di Paul Klee, dai Diari del grand tour, 1901 (dal catalogo della mostra Paul Klee e l’Italia, Roma, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, gennaio, 2013).

  Sono tracce di luoghi attraversati, conosciuti, esplorati; frammenti catturati, rimontati in funzione di una forma peculiare personalissima, dove il violoncello della Kent costruisce il telaio ritmico e la voce di Barbara De Dominicis – sostenuta da un efficacissimo tappeto di field recordings – alterna un canto armonico con brevi recitativi, vocalizzi barocchi e processi elettronici molto essenziali.

  Appunti sonori, collage audio, ma anche immagini (ed immaginario): ai nove brani del progetto è infatti accompagnato il documentario di Davide Leonardi, Faraway Close, (lontani-vicini, appunto) una sorta di diario di viaggio, un oggetto visivo che costituisce un suggestivo contraltare all’operazione.

  Con le parole del regista: «[il video] racconta essenzialmente la storia di un viaggio musicale, che gioca con il concetto di incontro all’interno di spazi sonori. Qui la musica diventa un ambiente in cui l’improvvisazione significa testare e scoprire se stessi - parlare, comunicare più strettamente che attraverso il linguaggio. Le distanze scompaiono, e il miracolo della forma si crea, solo in quel momento, e solo in quel luogo. La telecamera li segue, li ascolta, li coglie in silenzio, alla ricerca di quel sottile legame, immaginario 41 ° parallelo che lega Napoli e New York sulla stessa latitudine.

Il film si svolge nel corso di 10 mesi, durante i quali il duo si è esibito in concerti e anche confrontato con i suoni naturali di luoghi particolari, quasi magici, ambienti che ispirano l’improvvisazione e contribuiscono ad essa con il loro proprio suono-respiro, che sia di acqua o di foglie, pietra o legno». Attraverso un linguaggio documentaristico in grado di alternate lunghe durate a montaggio serrato, per le vie delle due città, soffermandosi sui volti dei loro abitanti, sui luoghi storici e sullo spiritus loci di questi, «sino a fondere un luogo a l’altro in un unico spazio vitale, in cui diversità ed affinità si compenetrano magnificandosi reciprocamente» (Alessio Bosco, www.indie-eye.it).

Guarda il trailer

Faraway Close | trailer from Au Hasard media on Vimeo.

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Album 2012 #02 Barbara De Dominicis & Julia Kent "Parallel 41"

#02 Barbara De Dominicis & Julia Kent “Parallel 41”

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emGbV8d9m78?list=PLB53A30C7D19BC3F8]

Buon Ascolto! :)

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English text

Female travelers

The story of an encounter.  From moments shared between Julie Kent and Barbara De Dominicis, from New York to Naples, the musicians’ cities.

An ensemble of emotions on the 41st parallel.  An ideal place where the deep cello played by Kent marries De Dominicis’ “provocatively vulnerable” voice, tenuous yet powerful, intense and full of nuances that immerse her travelling companion’s (Kent) instrument in field recordings to in electronica-style points of transit.  Background noise, chatter, fragments of ambient poetry in Italian, French and English, between spoken word and song, loop, improvisations with a randomness in their precision, travel along the cello strings and never stop the heart’s decent into evocative places.  But there is not much in this that is geographical (other than Davide Lonardi’s attached documentary, “Faraway Close”): these are places of the soul and the 41st parallel is the navel of that place that is so beautiful to hear.

Sergio Gilles Lacavalla for Rituals (jan/feb 2013)

Italian text

Viaggiatrici

La storia di un incontro. Di momenti condivisi tra Julia Kent e Barbara De Dominicis, tra New York e Napoli, le città delle due musiciste.

L' unione di emozioni al 41° parallelo. Luogo ideale dove il violoncello profondo della Kent si sposa alla voce di "fragilità commovente" della De Dominicis esile eppure potente, intensa e cariche di sfumature che immerge lo strumento della sua compagna di viaggio (la Kent) in fields recordings di luoghi di transito, nell' elettronica. Rumori di fondo, chiacchiere, frammenti di poesia ambientale in italiano, francese, inglese, tra lo spoken word e il canto, loop, improvvisazioni con la precisione della casualità viaggiano sulle corde di un violoncello che non arresta mai la sua discesa nel cuore dei luoghi evocati. Ma nnon c'è molto di geografico in ciò (se non nel documentario di Davide Lonardi "Faraway Close" in allegato) : i luoghi sono luoghi dell' anima ed il 41esimo parallelo è il centro di un comune bellissimo sentire

Sergio Gilles Lacavalla per Rituals (jan/feb 2013)

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Parallel 41 - Self Titled [Baskaru - 2012]

Parallel 41 is a collaboration between Canadian-born New York cellist Julia Kent, perhaps most famous for her rich contributions as one of Antony's Johnsons, with the Rome-based singer/sound artist Barbara De Dominici, originally from Naples.

Their live improvisations seek to incorporate the sounds and moods of several specially selected places into their unplanned emanations, to cast what they've described as "a psychic telegraph line that crosses oceans" between the two artists' homes. The results combine song structures with the non-musical matter of field recordings, a rare and unusual combination of disciplines more often explored separately, to create a series of psychogeographic themes.

The 45 minute travelogue opens with 'Illusory Rendez-Vous', the first of three pieces recorded at Forte Marghera, the biggest of the fortresses built to defend the Venetian industrial region that was frequently bombed throughout World War II. Framed by the deliciously recorded creaks of a moored ship and lightly chiming seashells, the presumably natural reverb forms a gentle frost around Dominici's delicate voice - sometimes reminding of Debbie Harry's bitter sweet seductive tones on 'Rapture' - as she delves between talk and song. The elegiac melody is returned on Kent's dark cello, tentative at first like an inquisitive yet shy child, but with growing confidence eventually takes the lead to build an intoxicating rhythm of repeating phrases over which Dominici's voice weaves and wanders.

War and its inevitable legacy, both psychosocial and physical, is referenced again on 'Une Journée d'un Sud Sans Soleil', as it was recorded in an old wool factory that had made uniforms for Italian troops during World War I. Here the duo sound at their most possessed. As the chatter of the outside street market carelessly filters through the factory walls, Kent's cello sounds desperate as its pleading and whining deteriorates into distortion and feedback while Dominici's voice becomes equally twisted and deranged as if channeling the factory workers woeful commission.

New York is physically represented by two pieces recorded in a Brooklyn loft. '2 Jet Legs' combines the foreboding rattle of a metal fence over which evil atonal arcs of a livid cello malevolently stretch to inspire frightened gasps subtly painting an urban paranoia; while, later, 'Herald Street's field recording of a tube train spilling its commuters into the station takes centre stage with just light strokes of questing strings and a semi-sung short monologue for accompaniment. But, building the most explicit bridge between Italy and the States, though, is 'The Naked City', named after Jules Dassin's award-winning film noir portrayal of 1940s New York, and yet recorded in the pastoral surrounds of the Piedmont valleys of North West Italy. Its rural ambience of bristling leaves and birdsong is bathed in a bleak, yet no less beautiful light by the mysterious, echoing plucks of Kent's cello while Dominici whispers her lament to  "nameless crowd". As her whispers evolve into tones she subtly forms a heartfelt prayer over Kent's cool shadow-play that is hauntingly unhurried yet hints at a murderous intent.

This bold confusion of field recordings, experimental strings and improvised song can seem disconcerting at first, requiring several listens to learn their language that has little precedents (although occasionally reminds of Einstürzende Neubauten's charming 'industrial chamber song' direction of the mid-nineties). By giving equal space to each of the three sound sources (cello, voice and found sounds) Parallel 41 achieve an unusual set of contrasts to evocatively take us on a sometimes delirious and always sensual journey. The CD comes with a DVD extra in the form of a short film by Davide Lonardi where he threads clips of Kent and Dominici sternly discussing their site-specific philosophy with longer, vibrant shots of the places concerned. While it's interesting to get such well-documented contextual material on this project, the music Kent and Dominici have brewed (particularly the crisp field recordings) are served better without visualisation which risks taking the drama out of the more dream-like presences made so vivid through sound alone.

Russell Cuzner Parallel 41 - Self TitledParallel 41 is a collaboration between Canadian-born New York cellist Julia Kent, perhaps most famous for her rich contributions as one of Antony's Johnsons,...

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ARTRIBUNE NOV. 2012

Il 41esimo parallelo secondo Barbara De Dominicis e Julia Kent

L'avevamo lasciata con “Anti-Gone” (WM Recordings), Barbara De Dominicis. Era il 2009, ma la raccolta di suoni, storie, musicisti ed energie che si erano condensate in quel progetto era iniziata già nel 2007. La ritroviamo ora in duo con Julia Kent, violoncellista newyorchese dalla grande sensibilità artistica, un curriculum da fare invidia (ha collaborato, tra gli altri, con Antony Hegarty) e un tocco sullo strumento riconoscibilissimo.

Scritto da Vincenzo Santarcangelo | mercoledì, 7 novembre 2012 ·Lascia un commento 

Barbara De Dominicis & Julia Kent – Parallel 41

Barbara De Dominicis, che ha conosciuto Julia Kent svariati anni fa, tramite un fortuito incrocio via web (pare ormai essere la norma), spiega com’è nato Parallel 41, disco e sodalizio artistico ottimamente recepito dalla critica (la prestigiosa rivista inglese Wire ha dedicato loro una lusinghiera recensione): “‘Anti-Gone’ è stato un primo tentativo di conciliare una forma chiusa, simil-canzone, con slanci più anarchici legati soprattutto alla voglia di utilizzare i suoni casuali dell’ambiente accumulati a margine di una serie di viaggi. Nel frattempo, la curiosità crescente per il paesaggio sonoro mi ha spinta a continuare la raccolta di suoni ambientali. La ricerca si è dilatata, frammentata e ricomposta fino ad ancorarsi a una latitudine: il 41° parallelo”. La destinazione di questi appunti sonori è stata una forma di collage audio:Crossings (commissionato da Radio Papesse per Radia network), A Tale Of Two Cities (una serie, ancora in progress, di ritratti sonori di luoghi legati tra di loro da un sottile filo rosso: Napoli e New York, in primis, alle quali quest’anno si sono aggiunte Lisbona e Viseu, soprattutto grazie alla collaborazione con il sound-artist portoghese Leonardo Rosado).

Barbara De Dominicis

Ma che genere di lavoro è Parallel 41? “Abbiamo cercato di svincolarci dalla tentazione della struttura. Non sono certa che si sia riusciti nell’intento, ma forse questo è irrilevante. Abbiamo cercato di dilatare gli orizzonti evitando di rinchiuderci in uno studio e anzi tentando di assecondare elementi come l’imprevisto, l’indeterminatezza, la spontaneità. Abbiamo lasciato pressoché intatte frammenti di conversazioni, rumori inattesi o apparentemente fuori posto”, continua Barbara De Dominicis. Passi, cinguettii, fruscii, frammenti urbani e voci (manipolati e non) diventano quindi parte del viaggio. “Non siamo partiti con l’idea di fare un disco, ma piuttosto di registrare (talvolta in maniera anche un po’ spartana e corsara) in luoghi evocativi dal punto di vista sonoro e/o visivo; per poi valutare solo in un secondo momento un’eventuale pubblicazione. Per una serie di casualità, la Baskaru di Eric Besnard ha però captato il nostro lavoro mentre era ancora aperto e in corsa e solo grazie alla sua generosissima e ampia visione abbiamo avuto la possibilità di pubblicare un cd/dvd”.

Faraway Close | trailer from Au Hasard media on Vimeo.

Oltre ai nove brani contenuti nel cd, l’edizione è infatti completata da un dvd: il suo contenuto è il documentario di Davide Leonardi, Faraway Close, sorta di diario viaggio psico-geografico che si sofferma su “due città dense e ingombranti”, con uno sguardo assolutamente personale e una visione certamente più vicina ai codici del cinema che non a quelli della videoarte. “D’altra parte, Davide reclama il suo legame con la scrittura e con il cinema piuttosto che con la videoarte”.

Vincenzo Santarcangelo

par4llel.org

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http://www.sentireascoltare.com/recensione/10887/parallel-41-parallel-41.html

Voti redazione e staff

7.4

PARALLEL 41

Parallel 41

Baskaru

New York e Napoli. Julia Kent e Barbara De Dominicis. Parallel 41 è un progetto di ricognizione psico-geografica dei suoni, che arriva dopo numerosi progetti analoghi, secondo una tradizione che a partire da Alan Lomax ha fatto del field recordist una figura molto romantica e negli ultimi anni abbastanza abusata. In verità, Parallel 41 trascende una scena oltremodo affollata e arriva a risultati prettamente musicali di grande respiro. Il sottotesto teorico che fa poi da scenario nel disco e da sostanza in Faraway Close il video-dvd di Davide Lonardi, arricchisce ulteriormente e ci permette una digressione concettuale quantomeno affascinante.

Parallel 41 in effetti assomiglia a Landings di Richard Skelton o alla Odomez Serie di Nothing Out There. E’ sintomatico come in questi casi, il supporto discografico non sia sufficiente. Landings si accompagnava ad un libro di prosa (ed in molti casi della Sustaine-Release anche a foglie e arbusti della campagna in cui Skelton registrava); i vari dischi della Odomez Serie avevano sempre qualche elemento di corredo, anche qui un diario e in alcuni casi veri e propri bulloni della Kuhlmann Factory abbandonata. Parallel 41 accompagna alla musica le riprese di Lonardi che, invece di limitarsi a fare da cronista  si avventura in documenti d’epoca e in alternanze di montaggio che effettivamente tracciano percorsi e similitudini. Napoli e New York sono due città-dominio, con una comunione dello spirito più segreta e nascosta di una semplice riflessione sul caos che li contraddistingue. Se ne accorge soltanto qualcuno che abbia camminato con attenzione a più riprese in entrambe. Le mutevoli scenografie e le umanità diversissime che si alternano davanti allo sguardo passando da Via Marina a Via Toledo, e poi ancora per la Pignasecca e i Quartieri Spagnoli, hanno lo stesso identico modo di accompagnarsi l’un l’altro, di quello in cui a Manhattan le tradizioni irlandesi, italiane, portoricane, cinesi si compenetrano, nel Lower Side. Da qui anche quel senso di tradizione arcaica che permane come un riflesso pagano delle diverse culture e a cui si allude nel video.

Di fatto la musica di Parallel 41, nell’unione tra il violoncello di Julia Kent e l’elettronica per voce di Barbara de Dominicis, allestisce una soundtrack che trae linfa vitale da tutto questo secondo un processo semi-ritualistico che è comune a molti musicisti da presa diretta. Da qui anche la scelta di non precludersi altre tappe, nel viaggio ideale tra Napoli e New York e di trovarsi in altri luoghi come Forte Marghera o in un tunnel abbandonato in provincia di Bolzano. Quello che fa la differenza, al di là del coltissimo e inspirato suono della Kent è la voce della De Dominicis che si cala in uno spoken word teatrale e lirico abbastanza originale. I brani, lungi dall’anestetizzarsi sui field recordings (la metro di NY, il mercato di Porta Capuana…) li compenetrano tramite il suono del violoncello e della voce è il risultato è spesso deliziosamente musicale, come nel valzer decadente di Illusory Rendesz Vous o nel superlativo droning mimato di The Naked City, che per atmosfera noir ricorda alcune cose del Tin Hat Trio. I risultati sono sufficientemente maturi per vagheggiare un Parallel 41 parte seconda.

Antonello Comunale

(7.4/10)

Scheda: Parallel 41

Pubblicazione: 09 Novembre 2012

File under: impro-ambient

 | Archivio

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NAU NUA

ART MAGAZINE | EDITION IN ENGLISH

PARALLEL 41

CATALÀ | ESPAÑOL

A sun inside a tunnel

Our planet is divided in meridians and parallels. Maybe nobody has alerted you but along the Parallel 41 there’s an artistic land, a place where all doors are there just to be open and all its windows give us a mental white canvas which needs a completely free imagination to become a multi sensorial experience.. Parallel 41 is a place to play with sounds and lights, colours and tunes, a place to listen, a place to talk. If you go into this parallel, you will find the cellist and composer Julia Kent, the voice and the field recordings of Barbara De Dominicis, and the visual art of Davide Lonardi. They are Parallel 41, in their own words “Parallel41 does not exist. It is a broken line....never drawn all the way but only thought, dreamt, perhaps like in a mountebank's dream maintaining a precarious balance on a chimerical wire...-lived and forgotten-.”

Fruit of the collaboration between these artists an album of improvisation music was born, working along the imaginary line that links Naples with New York. Of course, that multi sensorial experience has given also light to a story in images through a framework in which they were always looking for interesting places to record. All those images are now embodied in the film Faraway close by Davide Lonardi which has become the story of the musical journey and a part of the reflection of the band about space and time as relative concepts. In that creative musical trip, they used cello, pedals, voice and images, but mainly the casuality and the inspiration given by the different places, deeply present especially in the field recordings. The found sounds interact with the cello and some toys, giving the idea of playing to create a main role in that process. Farms, abandoned tunnels, factories and creativity are mixed in a project ready to take you far away.

First, they invite us to Une journée d’un sud sans soleil / A day of a south without sun. We hear voices in a crowded street and then Julia Kent’s cello sounds like a sign of hope. But suddenly the cello goes to a painful tune and Barbara de Dominicis sings while gets into a world that seems being falling down. The naked city is an surrounding cello with an almost whispered voice, close to your ears, while different rhythms are floating around and sounds falling down like rain drops. AVoiceless laughter comes along with a Julia Kent’s pizzicato and the fragility of the voice of Barbara and goes to some echoes with the cello sailing a melancholic sound sea. What are the Eyes of eyes? That question is an anguishing mantra. They bring us the Eyes of eyes which are not only the title of one of the tracks on the album but the eyes, the ears and the hands through which we can discover new minds, new sights, new senses. In definitive, new ways of experiencing life.

Spanish    NAU NUA

PARALLEL 41

ENGLISH | CATALÀ

Un sol en el interior de un túnel

Nuestro planeta está dividido en meridianos y paralelos. Tal vez nadie os lo ha avisado, pero a lo largo del paralelo 41 hay un terreno artístico, un lugar donde todas las puertas están ahí tan sólo para ser abiertas y todas sus ventanas nos dan un lienzo en blanco mental que necesita de una imaginación completamente libre para convertirse en una experiencia sensorial múltiple. Parallel 41 es un lugar para jugar con sonidos y luces, colores y melodías, un lugar para escuchar, un lugar para hablar. Si entras en este paralelo, encontrarás a la violonchelista y compositora Julia Kent, la voz y las grabaciones de campo de Barbara De Dominicis, y el arte visual de Davide Lombardi. Son Parallel 41, en sus propias palabras "Parallel41 no existe. Se trata de una línea quebrada ... un camino nunca dibujado que sólo existe en el pensamiento, soñado tal vez, como el sueño de un charlatán de mantener un precario equilibrio sobre un alambre quimérico ...-vivido y olvidado ".

Fruto de la colaboración entre estos artistas ha nacido un álbum de música basada en la improvisación, trabajando a lo largo de la línea imaginaria que une Nápoles con Nueva York. Por supuesto, tal experiencia multisensorial ha dado también a luz a una historia en imágenes surgidas del marco de trabajo que los llevó en busca de lugares interesantes donde grabar. Todas esas imágenes conforman la película Faraway so close de Davide Lombardi, que se ha convertido en el diario de este viaje musical y en parte de la reflexión de la banda sobre el espacio y el tiempo como conceptos relativos. En este viaje musical utilizaron violonchelo, pedales, voz e imágenes, pero sobre todo la casualidad y la inspiración dada por los diferentes lugares, muy presente sobre todo en las grabaciones de campo. Los sonidos encontrados interactúan con el violonchelo y algunos juguetes, dando a la idea de jugar para crear un papel principal en todo el proceso. Granjas, túneles abandonados, fábricas y su creatividad se mezclan en un proyecto listo para llevarte lejos.

En primer lugar, nos invitan a Une journée d'un sud sans soleil. Oímos voces de una calle llena de gente y el violonchelo de Julia Kent suena como un signo de esperanza. Pero de repente el violonchelo camina hacia una melodía dolorosa y Barbara de Dominicis canta mientras se mete en un mundo que parece estar derrumbándose.  The naked city es un violonchelo envolvente con una voz casi susurrándonos al oído, mientras diferentes ritmos flotan alrededor y algunos sonidos caen como gotas de lluvia. A voiceless laughter viene con un pizzicato de Julia Kent y la fragilidad de la voz de Barbara para llevarnos hacia unos ecos con el violonchelo navegando en un mar de sonido melancólico. ¿Cuáles son los ojos de los ojos? Esa pregunta es un mantra angustiante. Nos traenEyes of eyes, que no es sólo el título de una de las canciones del álbum, sino los ojos, las orejas y las manos a través de los cuales podemos descubrir nuevas mentes, nuevos lugares, nuevos sentidos. En definitiva, las nuevas formas de experimentar la vida.

FARAWAY SO CLOSE tráiler aquí

Text by Juan Carlos Romero

Parallel 41 website www.par4llel.org

Image courtesy of Parallel 41

All rights reserved

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Barbara De Dominicis & Julia Kent

Parallel 41

2012 - Baskaru

Derive Avantgarde

08/10/2012  |  di Francesco Bove

Il nome del progetto di Julia Kent e Barbara De Dominicis, Parallel 41, descrive perfettamente l'incontro tra due artiste, rispettivamente di New York e Napoli, confluito in un'esperienza sonica e visiva che, sia su disco che in video, restituisce i frammenti, le sensazioni, le emozioni dei luoghi frequentati durante la registrazione del disco. 

Parallel 41 ha il pregio di superare i generi tradizionali e narra, sfruttando la magia dell'improvvisazione, l'incontro tra due eventi-persone che arriva a dragare la superficie dura dell'immagine e del suono per avventurarsi verso un luogo comune. I luoghi, da Forte Marghera al Lanificio di Napoli, alimentano  e danno rotondità al suono del violoncello di Julia Kent, la voce di Barbara De Dominicis va ad infiltrarsi rovinosamente, leggiadra, tra le crepe dei muri, ingentilisce i vicoli bastardi napoletani – qui il video di Davide Lonardi, “Faraway close”, ci è molto d'aiuto - , emerge educata e domata tra i rit(m)i di una New York commerciale e ultra-capitalistica, riscatta uno spazio – meraviglioso a dire il vero – abbandonato, il Tunnel, nei pressi di Bolzano.  Parallel 41, nei suoi costanti sconfinamenti, è l'esempio di come si dovrebbe fare arte che non è solo il giocare con una partitura, sia essa testuale o musicale, ma l'aprirsi verso tutto ciò che apparentemente non ci appartiene, che è fuori. Julia Kent e Barbara De Dominicis hanno affermato le rispettive differenze, dialogando in nome di una potenza creatrice, fregandosene dell'easy-listening. Finalmente, quindi, e con ciò mi riferisco anche al pregevole lavoro di Davide Lonardi, un'opera d'arte che è esperienza, che evita di rappresentare una categoria musicale, un genere, per viaggiare fino al limite, superandolo se necessario. Julia Kent gioca con le opposizioni, integra con armonizzazioni subito rinnegate la voce di Barbara De Dominicis che, sottile, varia di continuo, ricordando talvolta la voce devastante di Carla Bozulich.  Lavoro ipnotico, disarmante, per certi aspetti difficile ma evocativo e affollato di parole, suoni, ostacoli, spigoli, scintille incidentalmente imprigionate su scale mobili metropolitane o tra le urla impazzate di autistici venditori di pesce e noccioline. Faraway close.

http://www.mescalina.it/musica/recensioni/barbara-de-dominicis--julia-kent-parallel-41

ENGLISH

Parallel_41 (a review by Francesco Bove for Mescalina.it)  published by  baskaru.com

Parallel 41, the name of the project by Julia Kent and Barbara De Dominicis, perfectly describes the encounter of two artists, respectively from New York and Naples, merged into an audiovisual experience which evokes, on disc and in video, the fragments, sensations and emotions of the places visited during the recording of the album.

Parallel 41 overcomes traditional genres and narrates the meeting of two event-persons who come to dredge the hard surface of image and sound to venture toward a common place using the magic of improvisation. The places, from Forte Marghera to the Lanificio di Napoli wool factory, feed and give substance to the sound of Julia Kent’s cello; the voice of Barbara De Dominicis creeps ruinously, gracefully into the cracks in the walls, and refines the bastard alleys of Naples (here Davide Leonardi’s video “Faraway close” is very helpful), emerging well-behaved and tamed among the rhythms of a commercial and ultra-capitalist New York, and redeems an abandoned space near Bolzano which is truthfully marvelous.

Parallel 41, in its constant encroachments, is the example of how one should make art which is not only the playing of a score, be it text or musical, but an opening toward everything that apparently does not belong to us and which is outside. Julia Kent and Barbara De Dominicis have affirmed their respective differences, dialoguing in the name of a creative power, not giving a damn about easy listening. Finally, therefore-- and I thus also refer to the admirable work of Davide Lonardi-- it is a work of art which is experience, which avoids representing a musical category, a genre, to travel to the limit, exceeding it if necessary.  Julia Kent plays with the oppositions and integrates the continuously variable subtle voice of Barbara De Dominicis with harmonies which are immediately denied and which sometimes recall the devastating voice of Carla Bozulich.

It is a hypnotic, disarming work, in certain aspects difficult but evocative and crowded with words, sounds, obstacles, sharp edges, sparks accidentally imprisoned on subway escalators or among the crazed shouts of autistic fish and hazelnut sellers. Faraway close

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Parallel 41 Interview @ Foxy Digitalis by Steve Dewhurst

http://www.foxydigitalis.com/foxyd/?p=35134

Connecting People: An Interview With Parallel 41

July 9, 2012 By Steve Dewhurst

A collaborative project stretching across the globe from New York to Naples, Parallel 41, named for the line of latitude that connects their respective countries, is cellist Julia Kent and vocalist Barbara De Dominicis. Last month Baskaru released their debut album with a film made by Davide Lonardi chronicling the duo’s travels and the recording process. Performing live in a wide range of locations in Italy and New York, Kent and Dominicis explored the power of their surroundings and the imaginary line known as the 41st Parallel North. Recently I spoke to Julia and Barbara about the album, Lonardi’s film and the joys of travel.

Hi Julia and Barbara! I hope you’re both well. The Parallel 41 album is really beautiful.

Julia Kent and Barbara De Dominicis: Thank you so much! And thanks for your interest…

First of all, tell me how your collaboration came about.

J & B: We met through the internet, via a virtual acquaintance who subsequently became a real friend. The whole encounter was very much improvised, like the music!

The film Faraway Close by Davide Lonardi accompanies the music you made. How did the process of marrying image with sound work out?

J & B:  We feel as though the visual element of Parallel 41 that Davide creates brings the music into another dimension. In this project, the musical and visual elements are equally important, and completely intertwined. As a filmmaker, Davide has an amazing vision and amazing eye in terms of composition, which we think Faraway Close reflects, but, also, he is an essential partner in our live shows, as he improvises a visual element in the performances in the same way that we do musically.

Parallel 41 is the line that connects you across the world, from Naples to New York. It’s variously described on the album artwork as ‘illusory’, ‘dreamt’ and ‘chimerical’, which gives it a very mystic sense. What energies did you take from the line and can you feel each other along it even when you are at opposite sides of the world?

J & B: We feel as though we (Julia, Davide and Barbara) have become really close from all the adventures we have experienced in the course of making music – especially making this record – and we feel as though we do share a unspoken line of energy or perhaps a line of communication that transcends whatever surroundings we may find ourselves in. We think of it as some kind of psychic telegraph line that crosses oceans. Definitely the image of the line that connects is one that has inspired us from the beginning.

What was special about the specific locations you chose to record in?

Julia: Each location had a unique character and brought a unique acoustical quality to the recordings. We recorded in places that ranged from a farmhouse in the Piedmont countryside in glorious golden summer, to an ex-factory in Napoli, to an abandoned tunnel in the Alto Adige, to a former fort outside Venice in bitterly cold winter. It was a privilege to have the opportunity to interact with these historical and fascinating spaces by recording in them.

Barbara: A compelling sense of discovery has been accompanying these irregular and fragmented intrusions in most of these places; the fortress by the water in Venice had a peculiar energy: quite intriguing and utterly melancholic; the decaying nineteenth century wool factory in Naples (which has been tastefully restored) had its own very strong sonic colour due to its nearness with a local street market but it also retained a somehow macabre and desolate sense. Uniforms used during the first world war were produced there. Valdapozzo has immersed us in a bucolic and enchanting setting, while finding ourselves being in the mouth of an abandoned highway tunnel felt quite unreal and surrealistic. New York’s gripping urbanity on the other hand gave a frantic flavour to our sessions, both visually and sonically.

What are your respective working methods like and how did they combine to create Parallel 41?

Julia: I have been working primarily as a solo artist recently, and enjoying very much the autonomy that can provide, but it has been wonderful to collaborate with Barbara. In addition to her glorious voice she is an inexhaustible source of creativity and inspiration and kindness. 

Barbara: I am in a constant research of a balance: see-sawing between song structure and open ended music. My last works tend to combine field recordings with live instrumentation and fragments of “what is found” on the run. Of course having the privilege to interact with such a marvellous, visionary and generous musician like Julia made things incredibly stimulating and surprising for me. Working with Julia and Davide in a sort of “improv-modality” could have been seriously disorienting and fragmentary while I feel we’ve had a special glue given by the fact that while recording we were actually in the process of getting to know each other… observing each others’ gestures, vulnerabilities, sights, obscurities, lights… learning to know each others’ “sounding notes” and “melting points” (metaphorically and not!)… tasting each others’ limits and capacity of abandonment. I feel like the whole process has been a [tiny] voyage in flux between identities, ways of working, humanities and places… where snags are part of the whole picture.

How did you enjoy each others’ cities? What are the similarities and differences?

Julia: Napoli, for me, is very much like New York. They have a similar sense of being chaotic yet creative urban centres, and they both feel like cities that are very much open to the rest of the world. New York, though, especially Manhattan, where I live, feels as though it is becoming increasingly homogenized and generic, while Napoli retains its unique character. So many of the spaces that nourished creativity in Manhattan have been ploughed under by development and commercialization.

Barbara: Topographically the two cities are different, [but] it seems to me that New York and Naples share the same risk of sensory overexposure: eyes, gestures, colours, ears, aromas might lead in both these city to a sort perpetual drunkenness. Both [are] dense and teeming cities; there’s almost a constant “possible” undifferentiated state in which boundaries between public dimension and private spheres venture to dissolve and exterior and private almost melt in a sort of continuum. Going back to New York and filtering the city through Julia’s eyes has been a special experience: [it was] almost a new place [when] compared with the city I used to know. In addition Davide Lonardi re-tracing (using archive material and original materials) the imaginary line we drew on the path of the 41st parallel actually refreshed what was my impression and knowledge of these two cities.

Barbara, your lyrics are a big feature of the album. You flick between Italian and English throughout. Did you do this to differentiate between the locations the underlying music was recorded in, or for other reasons?

Barbara: Not really to distinguish the different locations. Most of the sessions have represented a sort of travelogue of an underground Italy and it felt natural to make a brief incursion in this idiom and let other languages having an echo in the project. In addition lyrics have been vulnerable to the moods, to our state and latitudes; ‘Naked City’ for instance was actually recorded in Valdapozzo but the title is a homage to Jules Dassin’s noir portrayal of New York. On the other hand it does evoke W. Benjamin’s “Napoli”, inspired by the image of a porous city… could be any city, or a hidden corner of an ancient Napoli, the image of a place made of grey lava stone and yellow tuff, blackened by soot, grown upon itself, stratum upon stratum, worn by time…

Your voice reminds of Beth Gibbons’ in places…

Barbara: Thanks for such a generous comparison. Gibbons is an outstanding artist!

What were the reactions to your music like when you were recording in public places?

J & B: Apart from the occasional threat of arrest, it has been amazing to work in public places instead of studios, which can be so sterile. And so many people have been incredibly helpful and enthusiastic in terms of facilitating the process, by helping us find these amazing spaces and enabling us to record there. [We are] truly grateful! We must mention Andrea Serrapiglio (wonderful cellist and special soundman for us during Valdapozzo and Forte Marghera sessions), Marco Messina, Andrea Polato and Vanja Zappett. Moreover we’ve had the constant support of Eric Besnard at Baskaru. What a privilege to be part of such a wonderful label.

Thank you guys! J & B: Thanks so much Steve!

Tags: Au Hasard, Barbara De Dominicis, Baskaru, Davide Lonardi, Julia Kent, Julia Kent and Barbara De Dominicis, 

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Parallel_41 Interview @ Textura Oct_2012

photos: Lucio Carbonelli

PARALLEL 41

Who:

Julia Kent. I was born in Vancouver and reside in New York City. I studied cello at Indiana University but shortly after graduating fled the classical world and have subsequently played with a wide variety of artists and ensembles. I've released two full-length records and an EP as a solo artist, utilizing multi-tracked cello, field recordings,electronics, and found sounds, and I scored the recent NFB-produced documentary The Boxing Girls of Kabul. I've been collaborating with Barbara De Dominicis and Davide Lonardi in Parallel41 since (I believe) 2009.

Barbara De Dominicis. I reside in Rome at the moment; despite its thorough beauty, this city can be utterly brutal and hard to live in. I was born and raised in Naples, Italy and spent a few extended periods of time between Europe and the US. I have been studying philosophy and natural science for a couple of years. I guess I can consider myself something of a self-taught musician, even though as a kid I had been almostforced to take piano lessons for several years, and as a young lady I attended vocal techniques workshops and music theory classes.

What:

J & B__: The music that we create as Parallel 41 is entirely improvised; in addition, the music on the Baskaru album was recorded in a number of unique spaces. We tried, while recording, to react to the acoustic and physical characteristics of the spaces and the ambient sounds, which created a very particular atmosphere.

When:

Barbara: In the very near future I hope to complete my new solo album. Plus there a few recordings coming out this fall I've been lucky enough to have participated in; among them I'd like to mention the work of Nicolas Bernier, of whose sonic investigations I am particularly fond, and Elio Martusciello's acousmatic explorations (one of the most interesting Italian experimental music composers, in my opinion). I am truly honoured to be among the guests on their next albums. In September I will also be running a series of podcasts titled The Cat Cinderella endorsed by GIRRL [girrlsound : digitalgirrl], an Australia-based organization working in the sonic and digital arts in support of female artists and run by sound artist Majena Mafe.

Julia: I have upcoming solo shows in the fall in Geneva, in Barcelona at the LEM festival, and in Kingston, Ontario, at the Tone Deaf festival, and I'm planning doing more European touring later in the year.

Currently:

Julia: I've just completed a third full-length solo record that I'm hoping to release later in 2012 and am currently working on a score for a short documentary film.

Barbara: Besides the tremendous privilege and joy of having released Parallel 41 with such a stunning and sensitive artist as Julia Kent, and filtered through Davide Lonardi's silent and attentive camera (he is the author and producer of the project's DVD) and endorsed by Baskaru-Eric Besnard's special and generous gaze and lovingly supported by Marco Stangherlin (parallel 41's booking agent), I am at the moment also involved in a few other projects and collaborations: first, Exquisite What, a web-based project born from the idea to create an audio/visual collage that follows the surrealist method of Exquisite Corpse. It's a venture that has been slowly taking shape thanks to the enthusiasm and generosity of all the wonderful artists involved (almost forty, including sound-video.and photo artists). We are thinking about publishing a CD/DVD at the end of the first series of our "web" encounters. Secondly, Quasi.Memory, a solo work based on both personal and collective (lost) memories where words, thoughts, and sounds meet to reveal a lost and half-forgotten microcosm, to disclose a fractured narrative. Plus I hope to soon give shape to a series of collaborations started in these last years with artists whose work I truly admire (such as the Portuguese sound artist Leonardo Rosado, Welsh electronic musician Mark Walters, electroacoustic composer Andrea Serrapiglio, and with the artists @ AIPS).

Musical philosophy:

Barbara: I am more and more interested in music constructed in such a way that it combines live instrumentation with field recordings, voice with found sounds: fragments pieced together to portray a narrative, a character or just a sensation, a memory, a state; an imagined or real place.

Julia: Making music, for me, is a way of communicating and of expressing otherwise inexpressible emotions; I feel privileged to have the opportunity to do it.

Influences and inspirations:

Julia: Well, it's always a great inspiration to work with Barbara! She is an enormous talent and a generous and beautiful spirit. In general, I have been inspired and educated by all the artists with whom I have been lucky enough to work. And, like many other cellists, I'm sure, I venerate a number of cello-playing composers, most notably Arthur Russell, Ernst Reijseger, and Tom Cora. For me they've all expanded and deepened the expressive possibilities of the instrument in utterly personal ways.

Barbara: In general I guess we are so over-exposed to impulses that ordinary life draws around us that it is quite hard to trace boundaries and decide where inspirations and influences lie. I must admit I'm often under the spell of visual realms: music-less Bresson movies, for instance, are in themselves a voyage in a garden of imperceptible or imagined sounds; a walk through the city can be all by itself a nourished emporium of sounds, visions, humanities; each step, each face, each word no matter how thin, how loud…playing an essential role in the construction of a larger aural picture. Coming strictly to music, of course, there are several figures I am fond of, from Chubby Wolf to Billie Holiday, from Iva Bittova to Luc Ferrari, from Einstuerzende Neubauten to Alvin Curran, from Chris Watson to Lawrence English, and, of course, Julia! She is a sublime musician, whose devotion to music is deeply touching; she surely represents a fertile source of inspiration from which to draw.

PARALLEL41 BARBARA DE DOMINICIS JULIA KENT DAVIDE LONARDI

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THE WIRE AUGUST 2012_NICK SOUNDGATE

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