«Ciel-Cristal» (cristal sky) documents the performance of French electronics wizard Lionel Marchetti and Portugues sound artist Abdul Moimême at the end of a week-long residency as guests of Porto’s Sonoscopia Association for experimental music and performing arts. The duo’s live improvisation was performed at Porto’s magnificent planetarium in November 2021 and was accompanied by film projection and images by Jorge Quintela, showing black and white images of salt crystals, slowly transfiguring into abstract geometric shapes.

Marchetti and Moimême use a line from the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935, author of «The Book of Disquiet») as a motto for their work: «Peu m’importe. Peu m’importe quoi ? Je ne sais : peu m’importe». (I do not care. I don’t care what? I don’t know: I don’t care). Marchetti adds a warning about the rift that was opened between the right and the left that «accommodates the paradox of immobile heat. The revealed space, in these moments, kindles a flame».

Marchetti plays on this 41-minute «Ciel-Cristal» on the analog mono synthesizer novation bass station 2 and electronics and  Moimême plays simultaneously on two prepared electric guitars, laid horizontally, and objects. The atmosphere of this minimalist, cinematic piece is dark and chilly as if Marchetti and Moimême were scientists who documented the remains of the sonic ambiance of a desolate and dying planet and find just echoes of long gone lives. Slowly this sonic journey becomes even more unsettling and horrifying but also more sparse and abstract, as Marchetti and Moimême drift into darker, deeper lonelier space. In a symbolic manner, this provocative yet intriguing journey ends with a disturbing silence.

Eyal Hareuveni

Lionel Marchetti (synth novation bass station 2, elec), Abdul Moimême (2 el.g played simultaneously, obj)