CD – kranky

A composer is someone “who draws things together”. This process seems to have occurred almost by magic when Christina Vantzou visited the island of Syros, for a performance.
Set in the Aegean Sea, Syros and the island of Koufonisia in the Cyclades, where the sound artist moved for a time in 2020, gave rise to a creative awakening, a situation that was only exaggerated by the isolation of the pandemic. This led to a reflection on the autobiographical dimension of the music, engaging in a “reductive process” with the materials recorded. The recording is made up of sonorities grafted by traditional voices and instruments, such as strings, pianos and wind instruments, but also from field recordings, in a romantic and orchestral flow. There are also samples extracted from modular synths and minimalist and cinematic chords, bridging “natural” and “artificial” sources. The exact juxtaposition of the recordings made with various musicians – we counted twelve in the attached notes – suggests an editorial process that exceeds the usual mixing and editing sessions. The result is redolent of gloomy and surreal settings, far removed from the “open” and “impetuous” landscapes of the Greek islands, even if at times a lyrical impulse – as if reminiscent of ancient liturgies – emerges, marked by influences of Baroque music, singing and plain chant. The matrix is ​​diluted by further surreal passages. The longer compositions fit together with short and clear pieces. Only two recordings exceed five minutes, “Memory of Future Melody” and “Kimona II”, both full of a very compelling emotional core, pulsating and cathartic, with nostalgically swirling operatic passages, solipsisms and lost arias. What matters is the flow, the set of emotions and impetus put into play, the inner self-reflection, the precarious and complicated relationship we have with sounds, with places and environments: spaces which evoke those same obsessions that inspired the process.

 

Christina Vantzou – No. 5