Four years after their acclaimed debut
Dentro, the Italian electro-acoustic improv group
Ossatura came back with
Verso. The first notable difference is the absence of Maurizio Martusciello, thus scaling down the lineup to a trio (
Elio Martusciello, Fabrizio Spera, and Luca Venitucci). The second difference resides in the choice of instrumentation. Gone are the electric guitars and drums from the first album. This time around, the amplified objects, sampler, and homemade electronic devices fill the whole spectrum. It gives the group a sound more raw and elemental without the coldness often associated with electronic music. Enough of what has left; what remains is
Ossatura's uncanny ability to conjure up images in the listener's mind. These clanks, glitches, and wails speak to you, they tell a story without following a narrative or adopting a "cinema for the ear" attitude.
Verso is not as in-your-face as its predecessor, but then again the world has changed. By 2002, electro-acoustic improvisation was better accepted in avant-garde circles. So the group doesn't sound like it has something to prove. Not necessarily better, this album provides a different experience, more focused on the intrinsic qualities of the sounds than on their sheer power. The 15-minute "Introspettore" stands out in terms of activity and creativity, but the static "Per Rimanere in Vita Come un Essere Che Domanda" (which sounds like sampled bowed cymbals filling the air with shimmering overtones) works just as well, simply because it comes right after it. A lot of thought obviously went into the selection of material to create a captivating hour of challenging music. ~ François Couture