Like its cover, Nicolas Remondino’s Hìeratico plays in the rich shades of crepuscular spaces. A night-tuned, percussion led album where prepared drums are accompanied by flickers of spoken word, acoustic instruments and muted electronics.
The title translates to ‘hieratic’, for Remondino a “black and gold” term laden with dualities and complex connotations.
A sense of teetering between sparkling light and richly coloured darkness imbues the music, the compositions simulating a sense of heightened acuity as they convey us through a spooky elemental soundworld. The opening title track begins with a metallic shimmer, a drum skin activated in a way that sounds like it’s being smelted. A cushioned rhythm enters, a smothered timbre akin to hearing something lurking around the garden. On “litho non-danse”, percussion cracks like branches and dried foliage under foot.
Remondino recorded initial outlines for the pieces at Giuseppe Ielasi’s studio in Milan, before fleshing out these ideas with his own additional instrumentation and contributions from a globe-spanning network of collaborators. On “blue hymne”, chiming percussion equal parts jubilant and sinister heralds spoken word from Limpe Fuchs. “Tombal” opens with Massimo Silverio whispering in the Carnic dialect, a minority language from the Carnic Alps. Around, Marco Baldini, Pierre Bastien and Remondino construct a somber soundscape that cranks and sighs in the crevices.
Hieratico is an album of hybrids. Diverse voices, accents and dialects deliver its lyrics, the instrumentation underpinning it crosses idioms. The drumkit at its core is modified to amplify its resonant tones and harmonics. Inspired by natural substances and phenomena: stone,
wood, wind, earth, metal, grass, rain, clouds and bark, Remondino explores how percussion could evoke their materiality, treating drums as lucid textural instruments as much as rhythmic timekeepers. It gives the album a finely shaded depth and clarity as it conjures the vibrancies that reside in darkened corners. Hieratico dwells in a sensation that crosses borders, the speckles of light in the obliquenight sky. Listening is an aural equivalent to stepping into a pitch black forest and waiting for your eyes to adjust, a lightless void turning into a spectacular tableau of shadows and glows.
[text by Daryl Worthington]
HÌERATICO | OOH Sounds
A1 hìeratico
A2 litho non-danse
A3 blue hymne (feat. Limpe Fuchs)
A4 cuerda de piedra
A5 aranha
A6 tombal (feat. Pierre Bastien, Massimo Silverio, Marco Baldini)
B1 boku ga (feat. Adele Altro)
B2 meridiana (feat. Giuseppe Ielasi)
B3 lode (feat. Jonas Torstensen, Natalia Rogantini)
B4 sospire (feat. Roberto Musici)
B5 muracetra (feat. Dròlo Ensemble, Vipera)
* vessel (digital bonus track)
Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi
Additional recordings by Nicolas Remondino
Cover Photo by Sotiris Lamprou
Artwork by incepBOY
Nicolas Remondino: prepared davul and drums, voice, piano, positive organ, sampler / Limpe Fuchs: voice / Pierre Bastien: home-made machines / Massimo SIlverio: voice / Marco Baldini: harmonium / Natalia Rogantini: voice / Jonas Torstensen: piano / Adele Altro: voice / Giuseppe Ielasi: acoustic guitar / Roberto Musci: sampler, electronics / Dròlo Ensemble are Natalia Rogantini (voice), Francesco Toninelli (percussions), Cosimo FIaschi (soprano saxophone), Nicolò Francesco Faraglia: acoustic guitar, Nicolas Remondino (percussions) / Vipera: voice. Adele Altro and Pierre Bastien recorded by Marco Giudici and Adele Altro, Limpe Fuchs recorded by Wolfgang Obrecht, Dròlo Ensemble recorded by Francesco Toninelli
Released by OOH Sounds