Italian, Berlin-based cellist, electronics player and composer Martina Bertoni continue to explore the sonic possibilities of her cello on her third solo album Hypnagogia. She employs the cello as the primary source for composition and sound processing through reverbs, feedbacks and sub-bass frequencies. Hypnagogia offers six, well-crafted ambient-drone sonic sculptures.

Bertoni says that these six pieces were inspired by the reading of Polish Science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem’s book Solaris, and the title of the album refers to a transitional state of consciousness from wakefulness to sleep, during which one might experience sensorial hallucinations and lucid dreaming, and can tap into the pristine structures of the subconscious. «Hypnagogia portraits an imaginary cosmic journey of the Self that crash ends into a blinding sun».

The suggestive title cements the atmospheres Beroni explored in her previous solo projects with like-minded, suggestive titles,  All The Ghosts Are Gone (Falk, 2020) and Music For Empty Flats (Karlrecords, 2021). And as the title of the new album suggests, the cinematic music moves freely between inspiring and invigorating hallucinations and melancholic and unsettling visions. The cello sounds are heavily processed and transformed into an altogether different, enigmatic sonic entity. Sometimes the processed cello produces hypnotic, atmospheric-symphonic soundscapes and at other times it sounds like an orchestral, feedback-laden soundtrack for a sci-fi film about the adventurous exploration of unknown territories and unknown intelligence, just like the book Solaris or its iconic film adaptions.

Eyal Hareuveni

Martina Bertoni (c, elec, v)