By Sammy Stein
Monologo Addosso comprises Beatrice Arrigoni (vocals), Maddalena Ghezzi (vocals), and Francesca Naibo (vocals, guitar). It is produced by Luca Martegani. Beatrice Arrigoni is a singer, improviser, composer, and performer with a range of projects under her belt. She participated in the 2023 “improvisation voice and electronics” workshop led by Valèrie Philippin at IRCAM in Paris and studied improvisation with Stefano Battaglia and vocal technique with Renaissance and Baroque singer Elena Carzaniga. She has performed at many festivals and events.
Maddalena Ghezzi is an Italian singer, composer, and improviser who settled in London in 2009 and now works in London and Milan in the fields of jazz, improvised music, and vocal and creative experimentation. As a leader, she has released five EPs, all part of her Minerals series: Amethyst (with Thodoris Ziarkas), Halite (with Ed Blunt), Opal (with Francesca Naibo), Emerald (with Maria Chiara Argirò), and Dolomite (with Ruth Goller), and two albums with her band FUWAH. She has performed at the London and Milan Jazz Festivals and many venues.
Francesca Naibo is a guitarist from Vittorio Veneto but Milanese by adoption, who plays many genres, including classical, electric, fretless, and pedal steel. Having spent years researching solo performance, she focuses on exploring the fields of free improvisation and contemporary music. Her interest is particularly focused on using both the acoustic and electric nature of her instrument, venturing from roaring drones to microscopic vibrations. She studied in Venice, Milan, Bern, and Basel, graduating in classical guitar and free improvisation, and collaborated with various European musicians, especially in Central and Northern Europe. She has worked with many composers and musicians, and her album Namatoulee, received critical acclaim
Monologo Addosso is a sonic work which work that reworks and transfigures the poetry of Elena Cornaggia in order to fully convey its expressive depth. The result is nine ‘sound paintings’ with great dramatic power, in which electronic inserts, the use of extended techniques, polyphonic and contrapuntal writing interact to compose an evocative and expressive mosaic of colours.
It is very much an ‘out of the box’ concept with the interaction between poetry, sonic effects, and vocals creating a merging of the arts. The imagery the music creates is powerful and incredibly profound.
The music and interpretation of words and pictures create an intersection where poetry, music, and electronic effects come together to create something unique. Different styles are linked, with the vocals creating beautiful harmonies, explorative diversions, and snippets of spoken conversation to weave a landscape of colour and evocative sonic portraits.
The purity of sound, created by vocals, guitar, or electronics, is presented sometimes as a raw, material element, or a primordial essence, a lyrical and ecstatic evocation, abstraction, idiom: the work's sonic journey invites the listener into profound contemplation, expressing the urgency of an internal’ monologue capable of releasing energy and revealing the essence of all things.
What this album is also is intensely feminine. That might sound like a strange thing to say as a reviewer, but there is a sense of power and deep connection between the women who created this recording that is palpable and creates a deep sense of sisterhood.
'A Mani Aperte' opens the recording, and this is sensual, where the women produce short vocal sounds, including ‘dings,’ intakes of breath, and sighs. It sounds mad, and it is, but it is also very effective at engaging the listener. The final third comprises atmospheric electronics topped by a beautiful melody, gorgeously worked harmonies that contrast and provide a grounding, before the short trills and whispered effects complete it and act as a reminder that the track began in this tone.
'Tra il sonno e la parole' features harmonies backed by warping, echoing electronics that fade, allowing the electronic effects to come to the fore, but gently and with the guitar adding definition in a melody. The harmonies are beautiful, with deep contralto and sweet soprano melding to become as a single unit with many parts.
Throughout the album, the vocals adapt to the soundscape, either enhancing the effects, or contrasting with purity and beautiful harmonies. From the rickety tickety effects on 'Dentro Alle Squadro' to the standout 'Mi raccogliesse,' which features harmonies that break into a variety of sounds, from clucks to melodic inserts and explosive effects, portraying the variety of essences that womankind encompass perhaps.
There are echoes of ecclesiastic harmonies and madrigal singing, alongside improvisation and imaginative electronic effects on some tracks. 'Paessagio mentale' is intense and deeply emotive, while Implodo esplodo is held together by a madcap, chattering spoken harmony line, the voices performing as percussive instruments before the slow build-up of electronic effects overpowers the vocals, which retreat into a deep hum that develops a regular rhythm akin to breathing, and whispered inserts and snippets of voice.
The closing track, 'Quando il cervello prude' showcases each musician and is a beautiful, atmospheric way to end the album – and go back to the start.
A powerful, beautifully worked project, this is for listening again and again.
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