Un Fiocco Di Neve

Recordings

“A positive nothing, eternally waiting to bloom into the everything of the universe, a sort of primal spring of being.” — Vladimir Sergeevic Solov'ev

“Un Fiocco Di Neve” (Italian word for snowflake) is one of the possible crystallisations of an ongoing project called "Nucleazione" (Nucleation), started in 2017 and consisting of the accumulation of over 200 sound files and silences pulled together and randomly overlapped with no control. The five compositions of this album originate from a series of auto-generative methods, which I found brought me to new listening experiences in the process of composing. I trace my steps back to a decentered, limited presence as an author becoming a detached listener. While “Un Fiocco Di Neve” is presented here as a CD release, "Nucleazione" is exhibited as an online project where listeners can themselves experiment the non-linear creation of unstable, undefined compositions with no predetermined beginning nor end.

In November and December of 2017, I toured Japan, during the peak of autumn colours. Knowing my passion for tea, my friend Makiko invited me to her parents’ house for a tea ceremony held by her mother in an informal tea room filled with tools and objects belonging to the tradition. Among those, I was stunned by a kakejiku (hung scroll) of Japanese calligraphy displaying the kanji 紅 kou (red), 炉 ro (hearth), 一 i (one), 点 ten (point), and 雪 yuki (snow). While apparently illogical, Makiko’s mother explained the poem’s meaning roots in the concept of impermanence: a single fragile snowflake falls until it touches the fire pit and instantly disappears. Since that day, this image of Zen white delicacy, full of Japanese poetry, has never abandoned me and continues to resonate in my mind from time to time.

In May 2019 I visited Zen monk Toryo Ito at Ryosoku-in Temple in Kyoto, where I had performed in 2017 as part of the event Hodokeru Mimi. Between a bowl of matcha and discussions about travel, design, and religion, he laid out his philosophy of objects having their own meaning or energy that spreads toward us. I shared my idea of objects’ solitude as non-living entities and their intrinsic power to take on different meanings. Sound has its own organic flow in the world, which exists regardless of our connection to it. We encounter its complexity, give it a name, store it as a weightless memory, share its inconsistency. While walking back to the Higashiyama area, my thoughts reminded me of a YouTube interview with David Toop when he said, “You could argue that sound doesn’t actually exist: it’s always in a state of emerging or decay, it’s never actually there.” For me, this is an irrefutable truth. Why do we ‘fix’ sounds to precise forms, progressions, starts, and ends? Fused within this indeterminacy, I experience the beauty of listening.

In the mountain, a humble tea house. Snow forms outside. Between these states and the tension of opposites, density vanishes into sparsity, weight defies lightness, shadow intersects light, heat meets cold, in a continuous play of illusory forms generated out of empty spaces.

A snowflake disappears. Memory fades away, sometimes it lasts. 

NUCLEAZIONE: fabioperletta.it/project/nucleazione

Created (2017—2021) in Italy and Japan.
Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi.
Pantings and photos by Fabio Perletta.
Calligraphy by Kumaki Takahito.
Designed by Mote Studio.

A masterpiece of glitchy solitude & quiet causticity — already captivating our attention, spinning via ear-buds & included on our upcoming 4’33” podcast. Beautiful!

Ambient Landscape

—

Sound artist, docente e curatore, Fabio Perletta nutre un profondo interesse per la costruzione di itinerari incentrati sul rapporto spazio-suono e sul concetto di impermanenza. Entrambi i dati rivelano ugualmente un amore, spesso esplicitato nella sua produzione artistica, per la geografia e la cultura del Sol Levante. Un Fiocco Di Neve, nuovo lavoro pubblicato dalla sua 901 Editions, non costituisce una deroga a tale attitudine, ma muovendo da essa si inoltra nell’indagine di ulteriori formulazioni estetiche.
Punto di partenza dell’album è il progetto “Nucleazione”, linea di ricerca attiva dal 2017 e basata sull’utilizzo di metodologie auto-generative pensate come innesco di un processo compositivo aperto, del quale le cinque tracce rappresentano altrettante possibili concretizzazioni. Utilizzando un cospicuo accumulo di registrazioni raccolte nel corso degli anni, compenetrate con trame di puro silenzio, l’artista abruzzese scolpisce sequenze elettroacustiche dallo sviluppo rarefatto ed irregolare. Isolate particelle di suono emergono vivide da un ambiente neutro, di ispirazione cageiana, nel quale trovano espansione grazie alla possibilità di poter liberamente riverberare. Le strutture aleatorie così originate vedono field recordings molto materici, diluite frequenze sintetiche e rintocchi pianistici scarni accostarsi per formare un ponte tra il reale e l’intangibile, una connessione che vede Perletta defilarsi parzialmente in qualità di compositore per tramutarsi in fruitore dei percorsi plasmati. Il risultato è una sequenza atmosferica di soundscape essenziali e silenti, che riportano alla memoria i vuoti contemplativi del Thomas Köner di Tiento De Las Nieves.
Un Fiocco Di Neve invita a ritrovare una pratica d’ascolto profonda ed immersiva attraverso cui raccogliere impressioni durevoli generate da eventi sonori effimeri. Un’esperienza da tramutare in approccio propositivo, utilizzando la sua formulazione interattiva presente sul sito di Perletta, dove ogni utente può sperimentare la costruzione di tracciati alternativi costruiti a partire dalle stesse sorgenti.

Peppe Trotta, The New Noise

—

鈴木昭男やSteve Roden、Yann Novakといった人気作家も在籍している音響系名所であり〈Line〉や〈Room 40〉のファンにもレコメンドしたい注目レーベル〈901 Editions〉からは、その主宰者であり、〈Auf Abwegen〉や〈Line〉などからのリリースや、Asuna、Haruo Okadaなど、数多くの日本人作家とのコラボレーションでも知られるイタリアのサウンド・アーティスト／キュレーターのFabio Perlettaによる21年度最新アルバムがリリース！日本を訪れた際に、茶道や禅から受けたインスピレーションやデヴィッド・ドゥープのインタビュー、日本的な「間」の美学までもが湛えられた深遠で底知れない静謐さを放つ一作。Giuseppe Ielasiの手によるマスタリング。8ページに渡るブックレットが付属。限定200部。

Art Into Life

—