Senzatempo (timeless in English) is the second collaboration of the Italian multidisciplinary, electronic duo OZmotic – soprano sax and electronics player Stanislao Lesnoj and drummer, objects and electronics player SmZ – with Austrian avant-guitarist and electronics player Christian Fennesz. This album is described by this ad-hoc trio as a partly composed, partly improvised symphonic work for an imaginary orchestra in which melodies, counterpoints, dynamics and sonorities define a structural breadth reminiscent of classical music.

Senzatempo follows AirEffect (Folk Wisdom/ S| Object, 2015). OZmotic and Fennez began to work on this project in 2021, first at a distance during the Covid-19 lockdowns and travel restrictions and exchange sound materials, and relying on the Italian classical music notion of tempo rubato – literally meaning stolen time. Soon the project began to have a calm, surreal structure, at the same time as magmatic waves, and uncertain emotional states. The atmosphere of the album reflected faithfully the collective confusion and the almost total isolation. The project was finalized in November 2021 when Fennesz was able to travel to Turin, perform with OZmotic and play the material produced thus far, and experiment and focus on new musical ideas.

The four pieces of Senzatempo suggest patient and nuanced sculpting of melancholic, ambient soundscapes, carefully ornamented with processed percussive sounds, noise, glitches and fragments of field recordings. These pieces are informed by OZmotic fascination with sonic architecture, urban landscapes and vast uncontaminated spaces. «Motionless» captures best the confusing and unsettling times, and it sounds as if nothing is moving in this atmospheric sea of dreamy sounds on which Fennesz’ guitar floats, when in fact everything is in motion. The last piece «Movements l – ll» promises, hesitantly, a more hopeful future.

Eyal Hareuveni

Stanislao Lesnoj (ss, elec), SmZ (dr, objects, elec), Christian Fennesz (g, elec)