Embark on a dense journey through the prenatal existence, starting from high and immaterial planes down to the material and sensorial reality, exploring the borders of dark ambient, contemporary electronic and experimental classical music inspired by the concept of fetus, perceived as a physical incarnation of the cosmic essence which embodies the endless knowledge of an Oracle.
A dense journey through the prenatal existence
A deep, cinematic and emotional work about the pre-natal state of life, featuring opera singer Giulia Barozzi and violinist Laura Masotto. Embark on a dense journey through the prenatal existence, starting from high and immaterial planes down to the material and sensorial reality, exploring the borders of dark ambient, contemporary electronic and experimental classical music inspired by the concept of fetus, perceived as a physical incarnation of the cosmic essence which embodies the endless knowledge of an Oracle. ATŌMI translates into sound the beauty and power of this assumption, recreating the atmospheres and going deeper into the various ancestral states of a new life in formation. A work of art where oneiric soundscapes move through dense but at the same time spatial environments, morphing into an hybrid of modern electronic and experimental symphonic-orchestral music. I exchanged email and have some illuminating perspectives from the artist, ATŌMI, which is the chosen name of Lorenzo Setti, and I will be sharing some of his words here, all throughout. Starting with an idea around musical location.
“With our body-mind we can go everywhere, we can travel in space and time in a blink of an eye. I have made my music on ancient planets, parallel realities and far clusters of galaxies way beyond even my imagination.” ~ ATŌMI
The graphic art associated with the project, to my delighted eyes a glimpse of a living coral reef, some large larvae, a conch shell’s blushing colors, and maybe a jumbled jewel box, all at once, treasures in the light. This metaphorical sonic and psychic experience starts with Avyakta (Sanskrit: pure essence, shapeless), a sensorial viaticum in which shimmering sounds, suspended atmospheres and a long breath of life, welcome the listener to the gate of the universal essence, introducing the longest track of the LP, “Laniakea” (infinite heaven in Hawaiian). This 15-minutes immersion in the darkest sounds of his production reveal nonetheless the touch of his musical identity which is heard in the hypnotic melodies and slowly evolving atmospheres that guide this voyage in the remote depths of a universal essence in constant formation and ferment.
“I had clear in my mind which kind of aesthetics I would like to explore for the album. Then I was lucky enough to have been working on another project with Riccardo Franco-Loiri aka Akasha, who definitely was the right person to develop my ideas and bring them to the next level. He combined studies on embryology and scientific aspects with atavistic knowledge regarding the otherworldly soul, taking inspiration from the Upanishads, to literally give life to a piece of art that deepens its roots into a surreal environment in which symbolic forms and dynamism coexist. He modeled all the main elements of the artwork in Virtual Reality, valuing gesture, fluidity, speed of execution and the infinite possibilities of punctual intervention.
“Furthermore, Akasha used OpenAI DALL-E 2, a new AI system that can create realistic images and art from a given image or textual prompt, taking the dialogue with technology to a further level. Thanks to this new tool, the AI then created a number of variations of the artwork used for the three singles Oracles, Oneiros and Adela.”
I hear metal ringing, emerging drones. Guided by a reverence for minimalism, something with gusting, storm-like force, bent in a particular direction. The power of the Avyakta is such that it will more than suffice for solving all possible difficulties in my worldly Fast Ethereal Minatory Ominous life. “Avyakta” (2:30) is a Sanskrit technical term meaning “not manifest” “unmanifest” “non-expressible;” The Untold.
Cautious emergence, fibers connecting, tissue growing ::
Now I hear cautious emergence, fibers connecting, tissue growing. This exploration gains brighter tones and pulsating melodies, thanks to the wide use of LFO (low frequency oscillators) of “Erebus” Dreadbox semi-modular synthesizer, flowing in the more pure electronic track Oneiros (dream in Greek), that marks the closing of the first and more cosmic chapter of the album. Then things get more and more intense and then they collapse down to quiet ringing, the point of origin of a mystifying space signal.
Superclusters are regions of space that are densely packed with galaxies, and are the biggest structures in the Universe. The Laniakea Supercluster is the galaxy supercluster that is home to the Milky Way and approximately 100,000 other nearby galaxies. “Laniakea” (15:48). The name laniākea means ‘immense heaven’ in Hawaiian, from lani ‘heaven’, and ākea ‘spacious, immeasurable.’ Laniakea is a Slayer Master located on Anachronia, or so my alternate sources might imply. There is some cause for alarm in a quiet place. I hear sustained drone buzzing through gigantic dark spaces, cycling and rising, intensity diminishing, intensity rising, diminishing, proceeding steadily, ascending towards an uncertain dark stormy lightning illuminated horizon.
The Oneiroi were black-winged daimons that emerged each night like a flock of bats from their cavernous home in Erebos. In Greek mythology, the Oneiroi or Oneiri, were various gods and demigods that ruled over dreams, nightmares, and oneiromantic symbols. In the Iliad of Homer, Zeus sends an Oneiros to appear to Agamemnon in a dream. It has a small ruin, and many many high-level elite green dragons make their home here. Oneiros was also, according to some myths, the name of one of the sons of Achilles with Deidamia. The name for that locale most likely originates from the Greek myth of the Oneiroi, the sons of Hypnos, god of sleep. They were demonic personifications, and the most powerful of the Oneiroi was Morpheus, God of dreams. “Oneiros” (8:19)
The fourth track, the bridge between the two chapters of the album, unfolds in a surprisingly strong change of atmospheres, with the extremely dissonant and experimental Eidola (spiritual form of the matter Democritus), that describes the descent of the cosmic essences to a more material plane, to the incarnation, enriched by the manipulation of violin tracks recorded by Italian composer Laura Masotto.
This track represents a sort of limbo from which we enter a more poetic, melancholic dimension of the album: Adela (invisible reality, divinity, celestial body, Epicurus) is the polyrhythmic heart of this change, with its organic and hypnotic orchestra of sound waves. The track has been composed mostly with the analog machine Lyra-8 by Soma Synths, masterfully programmed by the artist to obtain the perception of a whole wind and string ensemble, a mysterious signal received from the stars.
The one voice chorus by opera singer Giulia Bernardi at the beginning of Oracles drives us as a chimera to a more apocalyptic and ambient state. The several exchanges between layers of Bernardi’s voices and the electronic strings recorded by Laura Masotto give life to a cinematic journey describing the fetus’ awareness of its own existence in the here and now; the first movements of a new life that remembers where it came from and knows where it is going.
The seeds of new life begin their journey ::
“Eidola” (2:43) I hear a room full of vibrating forms, strings bleeding. A phantom; an apparition. An image of an ideal, an insubstantial image, a phantom. Time abraded, strange magnetic particles possibly coming from very bright explosions of stars or from cosmic strings, the halo of a massive galaxy.
Track 5, “Adela” (8:55) releases a string informed series of drone forms, a hypnotic woodwind hall of mirrors, endlessly spiraling into the ethescape. An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination. “Oracles” (6:50), bring voices that search the darkness, rising and starting over again. Human emotions at the edge of heaven, the seeds of new life begin their journey.
The Anemoi are minor gods and are subject to the god Aeolus. They were sometimes represented as gusts of wind, and at other times were personified as winged men. Anemos (puff/wind in Greek) is the closing track of the album and is a pure, immaculate soundscape that brings the listeners into a cosmic state of stillness. “Anemos” (4:30) The resetting of the fetus awareness in the maternal placenta concludes the game of life, opening up the door to infinite possibility. The end is nothing but a new beginning and the conclusion of the album reflects its starting point; long breaths pulse life into a new essence.
ATŌMI is the alias of Lorenzo Setti, born in 1992 in Italy, a Berlin-based musician and composer fascinated by the cosmos and the complex simplicity of nature.
“I think one of the main characteristics of humans is the behavior of seeing everything from their point of view, forgetting most of the time how narrow and how related to senses our vision is. Our senses are tools pretty limited and definitely trained by the environment, cultural background and circumstances in which we grew up as well as the experiences we make during our life. Music for me is the midpoint between our need for expression and a powerful “translator” that brings different realities into dialogue. Music speaks of untold stories.”
Little Floating Oracles is available on Lady Blunt. [Bandcamp]
