Marta De Pascalis - Sonus Ruinae (Morphine Records, 2020)
No organs have been harmed in the making of this album, only synthesizers,’ she replies to a curious fan on Facebook who asked if she used an organ on ‘Sonus Ruinae’. He might have been right, the organ is a very popular instrument these days. But as far as Marta De Pascalis is concerned, she sticks to her synthesiser and tape loops. For three albums now, she’s been using nothing but these tools to create a sound that resonates as a contemporary addition to the Berlin School. Building layer upon layer, she sets out to create an ambient and hypnotic tapestry of sound. A combination of crystal clear noises, growling bass lines and endless thin floating sounds that hold the romping tones together. ‘Sonus Ruinae’ feels like a hermetic dwelling during a sonic journey that completely engulfs you. ‘Arena Void’ and the filmic ‘Dust Pavilions’ quickly become favourites. Surrounded by a double-tracked title track, which, not only because of its length, completely lulls you into oblivion. The foundations of this project were laid during a residency at Worm Sound Studio in Rotterdam in 2019. She defines the search for these sounds as very intense. An intensity that you can definitely hear in the two title tracks and that runs through the whole album. Immensely compelling. ‘Music never ends,” she tells a journalist. Neither do loops. Nor does listening to ‘Sonus Ruinae’.
Released on Morphine Records,