Patterns of Consciousness
An album of electronic music by Caterina Barbieri
http://open.qobuz.com/album/kgtn5admlx1fb
https://tidal.com/album/215303819?u
Caterina Barbieri’s 2017 album, Patterns of Consciousness, starts off with stabs of staccato analog synth. “This Causes Consciousness to Fracture,” the first track, plays with a short motif that undergoes constant timbral modification. I know just enough about analog synths and sequencers to know that I can’t tell if what I’m hearing is an echo effect, or is multiple sequencers. And that’s the best I can describe what I’m hearing.
A low-pitched synth voice fades in and is subjected to timbral modifications similar to those the sequencer(s) is/are subjected to. Eventually, this pedal tone builds in brightness, and the sequencers fade out…and the pedal tone picks up exactly where it left off in track one, in track two, “Tcctf”—an acrostic abbreviation of the title of track one. The album consists of sequencer-based tracks with longer names, followed by acrostically named, smoothly undulating, legato distillations of the sequencer-based tracks. The single-line (or polyphonic), sequencer-based track contrasts with the chordal, acrostically named follow-up track. The acrostic name is suggestive of chords, with multiple notes played in harmony, whereas the long-form name is suggestive of melodic playing. At least, I think it’s not a stretch to see it that way.
But it isn’t like that throughout. The first two tracks (a complementary pair) relate that way, but tracks three and four—“Information Needed to Create and Entire Body” and “Intcaeb”—do not. The acrostically named track, “Intcaeb,” is a much simpler, slower piece than its fast, blistering complement, “Information Needed to Create an Entire Body.” These are both sequencer based, though—unlike track two, “Tcctf,” the chordal track. And I must reiterate that I’m only doing my best to explain, and can’t do any better. This type of electronic music is produced in ways beyond those with which I’m most familiar, and the chords could be produced by multiple sequencers.
Track five, “Scratches on the Readable Surface,” begins with a buzzing kind of sound, like a swarm of bees. Like track three, it is fast and sequencer based. There are two layers of sequencers, and now three. It seems to be a kind of polyphony or counterpoint, but my musicology is not up to saying anything more than just suggesting the possibilities.
Track six, “Sotrs,” the complement to “Scratches on the Readable Surface,” is a slow, almost morose, sequencer-based, melodic progression. Layers are built atop each other, and I can’t tell if Barbieri has programmed a sequencer, or has played notes on a keyboard, for part of the melody.
Track seven, the last track of the album—“Gravity that Binds”—would be reason enough, on its own, to acquire the album. It is the jewel in the crown of Patterns of Consciousness. It is how I came to the album and to Barbieri: a friend recommended this track. As with all the music I write about here, I recommend listening with good speakers etc, or with good headphones or in-ear monitors. And turn up the volume! 📻☢️🔊The bass becomes powerful and extends down, probably to the point of becoming infrasound. It is a timbral work, as my friend told me. It has no acrostically named complement. It fades in, faster than it fades out and winds down. It is a long, peaceful, tear-jerking release as the album peters out. But maybe that’s just how I hear it. My bond of friendship with the person who recommended it to me figures into how I listen to it.