Recently, more and more experimental musicians attempt to suggest a fitting soundtrack for the current, turbulent times, when authoritarian, degenerate politicians on both sides of the Atlantic rise to power. Italian, New York-based percussionist Carlo Costa, head of the Neither/Nor Records and member of the Natura Morta trio (with viola Player Frantz Loriot and double bass player Sean Ali) and a collaborator of Norwegian guitarist Håvard Volden, is the latest one to address sonically the current times. His debut solo album, Oblivio, is inspired by the concept of oblivion.

Costa recorded two untitled, extended solo percussion pieces «at Noplace in Brooklyn» on July 2019. Costa plays on singing bowls, wood blocks, tiles, marbles, knives and other objects in addition to the conventional, acoustic percussion instruments as the drum-set and cymbals, in order to enrich his nuanced textures.

«I» is a mysterious, rich drone that sounds as an introduction to oblivion. Costa rubs and scratches, blows and bows the surfaces and skins of his assortment instruments and objects, as he sketches the dark, otherworldly drone. These disturbing, resonating sounds flow in a steady, organic current but are fragmented in few segments that morph and overlap into each other. Only in the part of this drone he attempts to settle this drone in a loose rhythmic pattern.

«II» is more structured rhythmically but, again, in fragmented pulses. Patiently, Costa channels the wooden and metallic, percussive sounds into a complex, cinematic soundscape. This rattling soundscape is darker, dirtier and even more threatening than the first one. Like one may imagine as the soundtrack for our collective, global surrender to destructive, oblivious forces.

Eyal Hareuveni

Carlo Costa (perc, dr, concert bass dr, singing bowls, bells, triangles, wood blocks, tiles, styrofoam, cymbals, violin bows, marbles, chains, knives).