Caterina Barbieri - Born Again in the Voltage
Italian composer Caterina Barbieri has discovered melody in the drones generated by modular synthesizers (particularly the Buchla 200). She teamed up with cellist Antonello Mostacci to create a dialogue between the monotony of the synth and the cello. Born Again in the Voltage’ was recorded between 2014 and 2015, and in the three years between its recording and its final release, the classically trained Caterina Barbieri released the more recent ‘Patterns of Consciousness’, on which she is immediately praised for her innovative modular synth virtuosity, following in the footsteps of Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith. Searching for melodies, building and exploding arpeggios, stroking the modular synth, knowing what Suzanne Ciani has already done and still wanting and being able to stand out… Caterina Barbieri made an immediate impression and follows it up with the older and no less impressive ‘Born Again In The Voltage’, a four-piece in which she displays all her knowledge. ‘Human Developers’ a classic to be. Fifteen minutes of building up, breaking down and duet after duet. It is an intriguing play of sounds where the tension curve is frighteningly tight. Small oscillating tones break through the heavy hum, cling to arpeggios and create a shrill sound in the otherwise heavy tapestry of sound. While one fragment has not yet erupted, Barbieri is busy building a new layer, and this goes on endlessly. The basic drone has long since become unrecognisable. This is the diligence of Caterina Barbieri. The cello takes over in ‘Rendering Intuitions’, her voice in the arpeggiated ‘How To Decode An Illusion’. Here, too, she takes the monotony of the drone as a starting point to purify and duel the multi-tonality of the sound. None of this stands out in the lightning-fast ‘We Access Only A Fraction’. The synth like an arpeggio machine, where Barbieri again uses her voice. Vaguely comparable to the first vocal manipulations of Holly Herndon. Packed with passion.