CD – Hideous Replica

Recorded in Berlin between 2013 and 2014, this album by Argentine musician Lucio Capece includes two extended compositions of approximately 26 and 21 minutes in which we recognise analogue synthesizers, oscillators, a ring modulator, an equaliser in feedback, sine waves and electronic drums. This Hideous Replica release appears in the form of a stylised, geometric hardback, with a fine quote from Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s the “Phenomenology of Perception”: “either experience is nothing or it must be total.” The work makes reference to the concept of the “living body”, which in this case is manifested by the electronics and musical compositions. The subject/object focus of the research is unravelled through a rigorous and fascinating soundscape, for which this “living body” seems to be a plot, a “subject who feels” and at the same time an “object that is heard.” Lucio Capece is not new to questioning the often ambiguous forms of perception, yet his carefully coded approach – contrary to the prevailing trend – appears to be specifically non-site-specific. “What happens to your ears and a perception of a space when you play quieter than what the space suggests?” Although this question was raised about a previous project, it could apply equally to Epoché, a work that makes indistinct the connection between object and “self”, presenting an irrefutable and yet enigmatic experience permeated by vibrating, sidereal sequences that feel almost tactile.

 

Lucio Capece – Epoché [excerpt]