Vincenzo Ramaglia - La parole (2020)

"La parole" by Vincenzo Ramaglia (2020 PEM Records) is entirely conceived via an electronic setup without a computer. The album features the impressive vocals of Laure Le Prunenec who is the singer of many known and interesting projects, including worldwide acclaimed French band Igorrr.

With "La parole" we listen the most restless and elusive rhythms of IDM, an intricate maze of analogue sequences, composed on the machines as on a pentagram, almost in a thoughtful orchestral counterpoint, but manipulated in real time by the author, handling the setup as a musical instrument.

To achieve his experimental style, Vincenzo Ramaglia receives inspiration from a wide variety of artists including Autechre, Björk, Arvo Pärt, Radiohead, Sigur Rós, Portishead... Elements of Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Frazer emerge when the listener focuses on the lyrics as Laure Le Prunenec uses ‘real-time invented language', creating words that are already music before they are even spoken. With "La parole", Le Prunenec’s language and vast range of vocal techniques meets the sophisticated plots of Ramaglia's electronics, sound becomes word, pure and iridescent communication, verging on an ideal union between Aphex Twin and Diamanda Galás; while lighter aspects of Squarepusher, Venetian Snares and Alva Noto entering into the mix.

"I have always aspired to music that can integrate experimentation and approachability. This is the meaning of what I call PEM (Popular Experimental Music). I think that to experiment does not necessarily mean to bore or to distress the listener: you can also experiment by blending the ear, not just wounding it. To experiment, in my opinion, means to pursue - and therefore to determine - the present day by day (rather than to lean nostalgically on the past or opportunistically on the already felt)".