CD Feature/ Marco Oppedisano: "Electroacoustic Compositions for Elecric Guitar"
TobiasMy first encounter with the music of Marco Oppedisano were excerpts from the manifold concerts he has given over the years. The statement contained in the booklet of this disc must therefore come as a little surprise: “These works have no live perfomance aspect.” In which way, then, does the album capture the essence of Oppedisano’s musical personality?
Admittedly, that question is as obvious as it is based on a wrong set of expectations. After all, even though most artists have reverted to merely using their stage presence to further sales of their albums, there is absolutely nothing to be said against an attitude which sees these two disciplines as possibly interrelated and yet clearly seperated. Yes, “electroacoustic compositions for electric guitar” is a clear deviation from the line of strongly improvised live sets, but it is consciously so. For six full years, Oppedisano has used the studio as a second reality, enabling him to pick up loose threads and think them out, deepen specific atmospheres, work on more precise formulations of what previously appeared unfinished and to generally establish a new sense of coherence, one that doesn’t loose its notion of spontaneity but searches for explicit forms rather than floating structures.
The safety of this environment and its myriads of opportunities enabled him to both take on the challenge of stretched-out pieces with several layers running at the same time and a linear development from the abstract to the concrete or from the textural to the tangible, as well as concise miniatures, capturing a mood, an impulse or a single idea in just over a minute-long scenes (captured on “three short electronic pieces” from 2003). Every single sound created on the album either stems from electric guitar or electric bass, with the exception of some vocal treatments on “Karmicom”, but this is not one of those albums intent on demonstrating how far one can go with minimal tools and a maximum of effects and pedals. To Oppedisano, the guitar is more than just an instrument, it is an expression catalyst, allowing him more clarity, resolution and richness than any other tool and his compositions are living testimony to that relationship. Sometimes, his guitars seem to be playing him, rather than the other way round, such as in what probably amounts to his most expressive track, “Time Lapse”: Like a radio dial being turned by an invisible hand, the music switches from sound art to Metal Riffs, then gradually into waves of engulfing drons and a sequence of frippertronics and consoling backwards chords.
As we already mentioned in the introduction to Marco’s interview with us, his interests have always been diverse and you can hear that here. On the other hand, the concentrated and continuous composition process has allowed him to bundle them in a unique blend which nestles comfortably between intellectual experiments, heavenly collages and progressive rock allusions. To me, it captures the essence of Marco Oppedisano’s musical personality almost 100%.
By Tobias Fischer
Homepage: Marco Oppedisano at MySpace
Homepage: OKS Recordings of North America
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