Pitch Dark and Trembling

Alma Laprida is a seeker. When she touches the bow to her tromba marina (an instrument with origins in medieval Europe), Laprida uses its two strings to clear a path through a thicket of indefinite musical possibilities. Before moving to Washington, DC, the Argentinian improvisor and sound artist was a central figure in the tight-knit avant-garde scene of Buenos Aires, where she became enamored with the possibilities of nontraditional instruments and everyday soundmakers. With a simple set of tools, she creates spontaneous music that at first seems austere, but with examination reveals intricately aligned fields of inquiry.

Since relocating to the U.S., Laprida has developed a distinctive, methodical style of improvisation on the tromba marina that uses amplification and subtle electronic processing to expand the textural possibilities of the instrument. Pitch Dark and Trembling extends that practice. Recorded live at Bard College in June of 2023, the album documents a pivotal moment in an ongoing exploration of low frequencies and vibrational phenomena. By modulating her instrument’s signal with a cranked 18-inch subwoofer and an array of effects pedals, the typically light sound of the tromba marina becomes massive and unwieldy, laden with roars of feedback and ghostly wisps of rumbling bass. Shaken to its core, the room itself becomes audible, as the walls vibrate sympathetically with each expulsion of sound.

After feeling the way in which the speaker’s low frequencies interacted with objects in their direct vicinity, Laprida was reminded of a traumatic experience of a late night earthquake in Bolivia a decade and a half prior. She recalled the fear and confusion of being woken up, the oncoming roll of sound that preceded the shaking of her room, and the clattering of her belongings while she remained in bed, frozen in place. She leaned into that association, collecting exciters from deconstructed speakers and placing them inside boxes and trash cans where they would audibly shake as she played through the subwoofer. We hear the quiver of these exciters on “Trembling,” its title highlighting not only the sounds’ effects on the objects, but also the feeling they elicit. Following the live performance documented on Pitch Dark and Trembling, several listeners approached Laprida to express the strange mixture of unease and enthrallment they felt as they became enveloped by the vibrations.

Fear and attentiveness come hand in hand, often accompanied by a strange sense of wonderment. As Laprida processes the sounds of an instrument she holds close to her chest through the unpredictable swells of the subwoofer, she works through the terror of the world’s volatility. There are no easy answers here, and only ambiguous resolutions. Pitch Dark and Trembling requires a recalibration of the listener’s ear, and at times a dash of imagination. Laprida points to the cacophony of oncoming trains and the boom of faraway thunder as everyday reference points for the work on this release. Billowing, groaning, and at times even whispering, the album probes at the margins of disquiet, always curious and never certain. If music is a way of processing the mysterious nature of existence, Laprida lets the enigma ride.