Zoomachia Disc 1

First emerging during the mid 2000s in the field of experimental electronics, the Italian born, Berlin based artist, Francesco Cavaliere captivated us back in 2021 with ‘Viridescens’, his brilliant duo with Tomoko Sauvage issued by Marionette. With a handful of noteworthy releases having appeared since, he now returns with ‘Zoomachia Disc 1’, a remarkable fable bridging the territories of spoken word and electronic and electroacoustic composition
For the better part of the last 20 years, Cavaliere has woven intimate tapestries of sound from a strikingly singular pallet of processed source material that have resulted in startling abstractions. It is this departure point that underscores ‘Zoomachia Disc 1’, a radically new way of working in the artist’s output. A musical fable written, composed, and performed by Cavaliere, the tale unfolds in two acts – ‘Il grillo ventriloquo incontra Setha la mantide’ (The ventriloquist cricket meets Setha the mantis) and ‘Atta e Volma nel regno delle api di vetro Ossax’  (Atta and Volma in the Ossax realm of glass worker bees) encountering a range of insect character in various guises: a cricket, spider, and numerous mantis, ants, and bees
Against the fable’s text, delivered by Cavaliere with an ever-present sense of drama, the composer unfurls wild and playful, almost hallucinatory electroacoustic interventions, pulsing patterns on synths, fractured ambiences, and fleeting rhythms and melodies, bumbling to surface like watery springs, before receding from view and returning again. Strange and wonderful in the best possible of ways, infusing experimental music with the child like wonder, playfulness, and mystery that was often encountered within popular culture during the 1970s, but rarely since, Francesco Cavaliere’s  ‘Zoomachia Disc 1’ is one of those rare creations that leaves you feeling more curious than when you began. This fantastic LP is issued by Dischi Fantom in a highly limited vinyl edition of 200 copies, accompanied by a very special booklet with Italian and English texts. Highly recommended!