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Robert Piotrowicz, "Lasting Clinamen"
A work purely of modular analog synthesizer, Piotrowicz uses the simplicity of the sonic pallet to his advantage, creating a work that captures both the experimental dissonance of what is colloquy known as "noise" while propping up the entire work on a structure that’s more akin to electro-acoustic composition than the average Merzbow disc.
There does not seem to be a great deal of treatment or effects used on this album, if any. The color of the sound is that of buzzing ancient oscillators and pre-MIDI technology, without any unnecessary digital sheen or polish. Instead it’s a study of understatement, allowing the subtle tonal shifts from this “primitive” technology to dominate and is a study in textures, not programming or endurance.
The first and third tracks are ones that nudge into the realms of so called noise or power electronics on the push of stuttering sawtooth waves that buzz incessantly. Both tracks are heavily focused on the dense, harsh force of what is a relatively "ugly" sound, yet here it is presented with a significant amount of dynamic and tonal shift that instead of seeking to simply pummel the listener with its overt harshness instead invites closer listening and focus to note these miniscule changes that end up leading to more drastic shifts in the sound over time.
"Clinamen 2A" on the other hand is a much more subtle work, focusing on the subsonic bass frequencies of Piotrowicz’s synth that in its austerity calls to mind the clinical sonic studies of RLW or Bernhard Gunter. While not as akin to pure silence as the latter, the extreme low frequencies give the same sense of wide spaciousness that requires a close listening from the listener to fully absorb the skeletal structures that underlie the piece.
The closing "Clinamen 2B" concludes the album in a functionally appropriate way, combining both the pummeling sawtooth waveforms and complex undercurrent of the previous tracks into a more dynamic, pulsing manner that, just as it reaches an intensity of what could usually be associated with harsh noise it is all stripped away to allow the subtle underpinnings of the track to come forward, nuanced sounds that would otherwise go unheard.
Robert Piotrowicz is definitely an artist to keep an eye on in the realms of the electro-acoustic and experimental genres, though only credited with a few releases thus far, his work has shown quite the ear for both sonic extremity as well as nuanced structure and composition. There's no reason that fans of Francisco Lopez and Lionel Marchetti and their ilk won't love his work just as much.
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