Article
Michael Robinson

Albums
34423
The Analog Session
ASC
Black Mental vs L. H. Path
Dewa Budjana
Cam Butler
Caragnano & Dozzy
Digitonal
D'Onofrio & Lyn
Dronelock and Ontal
Harris Eisenstadt
Elian
The Eye Of Time
Kit Wilmans Fegradoe
Forrest Fang
Godspeed You! Black E.
Wayne Horvitz
Huntsville
HVOB
Labfield
Monobody
Oscar Mulero
M. Ostermeier
Eliesha Nelson
offthesky
Papir
Piano Interrupted
Qibe
Re-UP
Bruno Sanfilippo
Martin Schulte
Patrice Scott
Soft Machine
Matt Starling
stilllife
Mark Wingfield
Toshiyuki Yasuda
zmi

Compilations / Mixes
BamaLoveSoul On Deck 3
Embark 05
Nummer Eins

EPs / Cassettes / DVDs / Mini-Albums / Singles
Dominik Eulberg
eyesix
Jones & Gregson
Pavemental
Soul Clap / Sphynx
Andrew Weathers
Jeremy Young

Anna Caragnano & Donato Dozzy: Sintetizzatrice
Spectrum Spools

Sintetizzatrice represents a bit of a left-turn for Donato Dozzy, whose reputation has been built on the elegant ambient-techno productions he's issued under his own name and in partnership with Giuseppe Tilleci (Neel) as Voices from the Lake. But in this first recorded collaboration between Dozzy and Rome-based vocalist Anna Caragnano, no sounds other than Caragnano's vocals appear.

The recording doesn't lack for stimulation, however: in applying layering and effects to her voice, Dozzy conjures a diverse array of dazzling effects throughout the nine songs. Sintetizzatrice presents miniature vocal universes, each one fleeting and stylistically different from the next. Though experimentation and exploration are central to the project, issues of melody and accessibility aren't ignored. Among other things, Sintetizzatrice is noteworthy for achieving such a satisfying balance between experimentation and accessibility.

Caragnano's voice swells to an unintelligible babble in “Introduzione,” after which a more musical dimension enters into the recording via “Starcloud,” where breathy exhalations collectively form an ethereal drone, and “Fraledune,” a choir-like treatment whose blur exudes a rather kosmische character. The playful vocal experiments that colour “Festa (A Mottola)” give it the character of a Meredith Monk piece, even if it's intended, formally speaking, to pay homage to the traditional music found in the rural region where Dozzy's mother and Caragnano were born and raised.

While Sintetizzatrice is anything but a techno recording, Dozzy's techno sensibility clearly surfaces during “Parola” in the way Caragnano's vocals are shaped into a swinging dance groove. It's a fascinating project, to be sure, but be forewarned: the nine songs on Sintetizzatrice total a mere twenty-four minutes, which makes calling it an album a stretch when it more invites a mini-album or EP classification.

April 2015