GRAND RIVER - All Above LP
On her third album, Berlin-based Dutch-Italian composer and sound designer AimĂ©e Portioli, aka Grand River, asks what guiding forces might be driving, enticing, and affecting us. âAll Aboveâ is rooted in her deeply personal philosophy as an artist, blurring the boundaries between electronic music and acoustic music and sculpting familiar ambient forms into personal themes painted with rich emotional colours. Written painstakingly over the last two years, the album is the most ambitious and divergent set of music Portioli has assembled so far, with a wide variety of instrumentation (including voices, strings, organs, guitars, and synthesisers) focused around the piano. Sheâs keen to assure listeners that while that instrument isnât always heard, itâs constantly at the forefront of the album, shepherding its emotions and anchoring its mood. It makes sense then that on the opening track âQuasicristalloâ, the acoustic piano is the first element we hear, recorded closely, so its characteristic rattle and creak can speak as loudly as the familiar tones themselves. When the music blooms into abstraction and processed electronics, itâs almost imperceptible: reverb mutates into ghostly vapour trails, and distortion forms the keys into another instrument entirely.
âAll Aboveâ follows 2020âs acclaimed âBlink A Few Times To Clear Your Eyesâ and 2018âs âPineappleâ released on Donato Dozzy and Neelâs Spazio Disponibile imprint. Having garnered praise from outlets like Resident Advisor, XLR8R, The Quietus, Inverted Audio, and The Verge, Portioli operates in a unique space within the electronic music scene, straddling the art world and the wider electronic music scene. Sheâs developed sound art installations for Romeâs La Galleria Nazionale and the Terraforma Festival-related Il Pianeta, and has appeared at Barbican, MUTEK, Le Guess Who?, Kraftwerk, and other internationally renowned venues and festivals, often collaborating with Marco Ciceri on A/V presentations. Ciceri also maintains the visual identity of Portioliâs label One Instrument, a concept imprint that asks artists to create music only using a single device. All this experience is poured into âAll Aboveâ, a richly visual album thatâs far more than just an imaginary film score. While on âHumanâ, her piano punctuates a rhythmic synthesised bassline and smudged choirs that canât help but trace out the silver screen. The composer is keen to clarify that she doesnât think of her music (or sound in general) in visual terms.
On her third album, Berlin-based Dutch-Italian composer and sound designer AimĂ©e Portioli, aka Grand River, asks what guiding forces might be driving, enticing, and affecting us. âAll Aboveâ is rooted in her deeply personal philosophy as an artist, blurring the boundaries between electronic music and acoustic music and sculpting familiar ambient forms into personal themes painted with rich emotional colours. Written painstakingly over the last two years, the album is the most ambitious and divergent set of music Portioli has assembled so far, with a wide variety of instrumentation (including voices, strings, organs, guitars, and synthesisers) focused around the piano. Sheâs keen to assure listeners that while that instrument isnât always heard, itâs constantly at the forefront of the album, shepherding its emotions and anchoring its mood. It makes sense then that on the opening track âQuasicristalloâ, the acoustic piano is the first element we hear, recorded closely, so its characteristic rattle and creak can speak as loudly as the familiar tones themselves. When the music blooms into abstraction and processed electronics, itâs almost imperceptible: reverb mutates into ghostly vapour trails, and distortion forms the keys into another instrument entirely.
âAll Aboveâ follows 2020âs acclaimed âBlink A Few Times To Clear Your Eyesâ and 2018âs âPineappleâ released on Donato Dozzy and Neelâs Spazio Disponibile imprint. Having garnered praise from outlets like Resident Advisor, XLR8R, The Quietus, Inverted Audio, and The Verge, Portioli operates in a unique space within the electronic music scene, straddling the art world and the wider electronic music scene. Sheâs developed sound art installations for Romeâs La Galleria Nazionale and the Terraforma Festival-related Il Pianeta, and has appeared at Barbican, MUTEK, Le Guess Who?, Kraftwerk, and other internationally renowned venues and festivals, often collaborating with Marco Ciceri on A/V presentations. Ciceri also maintains the visual identity of Portioliâs label One Instrument, a concept imprint that asks artists to create music only using a single device. All this experience is poured into âAll Aboveâ, a richly visual album thatâs far more than just an imaginary film score. While on âHumanâ, her piano punctuates a rhythmic synthesised bassline and smudged choirs that canât help but trace out the silver screen. The composer is keen to clarify that she doesnât think of her music (or sound in general) in visual terms.
Description
On her third album, Berlin-based Dutch-Italian composer and sound designer AimĂ©e Portioli, aka Grand River, asks what guiding forces might be driving, enticing, and affecting us. âAll Aboveâ is rooted in her deeply personal philosophy as an artist, blurring the boundaries between electronic music and acoustic music and sculpting familiar ambient forms into personal themes painted with rich emotional colours. Written painstakingly over the last two years, the album is the most ambitious and divergent set of music Portioli has assembled so far, with a wide variety of instrumentation (including voices, strings, organs, guitars, and synthesisers) focused around the piano. Sheâs keen to assure listeners that while that instrument isnât always heard, itâs constantly at the forefront of the album, shepherding its emotions and anchoring its mood. It makes sense then that on the opening track âQuasicristalloâ, the acoustic piano is the first element we hear, recorded closely, so its characteristic rattle and creak can speak as loudly as the familiar tones themselves. When the music blooms into abstraction and processed electronics, itâs almost imperceptible: reverb mutates into ghostly vapour trails, and distortion forms the keys into another instrument entirely.
âAll Aboveâ follows 2020âs acclaimed âBlink A Few Times To Clear Your Eyesâ and 2018âs âPineappleâ released on Donato Dozzy and Neelâs Spazio Disponibile imprint. Having garnered praise from outlets like Resident Advisor, XLR8R, The Quietus, Inverted Audio, and The Verge, Portioli operates in a unique space within the electronic music scene, straddling the art world and the wider electronic music scene. Sheâs developed sound art installations for Romeâs La Galleria Nazionale and the Terraforma Festival-related Il Pianeta, and has appeared at Barbican, MUTEK, Le Guess Who?, Kraftwerk, and other internationally renowned venues and festivals, often collaborating with Marco Ciceri on A/V presentations. Ciceri also maintains the visual identity of Portioliâs label One Instrument, a concept imprint that asks artists to create music only using a single device. All this experience is poured into âAll Aboveâ, a richly visual album thatâs far more than just an imaginary film score. While on âHumanâ, her piano punctuates a rhythmic synthesised bassline and smudged choirs that canât help but trace out the silver screen. The composer is keen to clarify that she doesnât think of her music (or sound in general) in visual terms.
