Though known as a touring and recording musician associated with Nine Inch Nails, Alessandro Cortini has really come into his own via his Forse trilogy, and his 2014 Hospital Productions debut, Sonno. For his Hospital follow-up, he maintains the grittiness and intimacy introduced on his debut, but expands upon it, offering a wider spectrum of emotion and depth.
Like Sonno, Risveglio was written and recorded while on tour. The drive to create intimate works during late-night downtime reveal Cortini to be committed to personal vision beyond the call of duty. While Sonno was created using only a Roland 202 and delay, Risveglio adds a Roland TB303, synced to the 202.
In his own words, "The 303 can be such a haunting instrument used in a certain way, and I felt it completely fit the mood of the previous work I have done on the 202, especially when given a specific location in space....it’s such a living instrument." The addition of Roland TR606 gives one of the pieces a rhythmic pulse that separates it from the preceding synthscapes and renders Risveglio altogether a more dynamic affair than Sonno.
With Risveglio, Cortini implores and emphasizes the imperfections and visceral textures of electronics vacant from so much contemporary solo synthesizer music. Furthermore Cortini carves out a similar space to what Kevin Drumm's Hospital releases have done for the worlds of Drone and Noise by finding the emotional and ultimately human voice within synthesis.
Alessandro Cortini will be presenting both Sonno and Risveglio in a live audio-visual performance at this years upcoming Berlin Atonal festival taking place August 19th-23rd.
soundcloud.com/alessandrocortini/la-sveglia/s-Xid8z?mc_cid=3809b15b47&mc_eid=9715ef9161
