Stanze by Aperture

A confined space inside a building, on a page. A finite number of partitions and surfaces. A finite number of syllables. Its boundaries make it a space to inhabit, to fill. A space that enfolds us, defines us, and even haunts us. There is always one room to which we return—in our memory, in our words.

Elisabetta and Emanuele Porcinai

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Aperture is a current studio and live project created by Italian born/Berlin based siblings Emanuele and Elisabetta Porcinai. This is their 2nd album following up from the outstanding debut “Threads” from 2018, released on Other/other (Subtext Recordings), which was followed in 2020 with an EP collection of live recordings taken during the Aperture Threads Tour 2019-20 in Germany and Italy, released by Stray Signals.

Their music explores tension between hushed intimate spoken vocals and singing amidst detailed soundscapes of guitars, bass and percussion soaked in electronically derived detailing, working with a reduced brittle instrumentation that at first calls to mind the more subdued moments of Sonic Youth’s 1st album and the quiet tension of the dreamy parts of Sister, the non-bombastic and tense subtleties in the low passages of Slint and that band’s off-shoot The For Carnation, a music that sounds as afloat as it evokes walking-on-eggshells in a very quiet room. A somnambulant atmosphere which seems to teeter as if it could explode and shatter at any moment, but doesn’t.
In the course of the 9 tracks on this remarkable and unique album we are presented with a perfectly considered, fastidiously composed and produced song cycle.

Other points of reference to my ears might be the chilly spoken words of Little Annie as she had a universe of minimal sound simmering beneath breathy vocals, or the cool, austere delivery of Lucrecia Dalt as well the stoic and aloof quiet precision of The Young Marble Giants and the fragility of Virgina Astley, also comes to mind as does Luciano Cilio which seems a present influence or inspiration in terms of the quietness, space and unusual compositional choices in juxtapositions of instrumentation and atmosphere.

On this recording Aperture are abetted by some very strong collaborators: Drummer/percussionist Andrea Belfi who in this instance deploys a spacious atmospheric free-flow of reduced accents and insinuated beats rather than the frenetic synchronicity he is known for. This airy approach bodes with the minimalistic and considered sparse tonal flow of Alf Brooks’ reduced bass and subtle electronics. Accented by somber piano passages, yearning harmonium drones and unidentified quiet clatter of light atmospheric noise and the overall low tempo of the suite, it is as sparse and hushed as a Feldman piece by the end of the second side of the LP incorporating what seems like domestic sound sources in a natural space with the flute of collaborator Martina Brandorff chiming in some otherworldly lyricism. Closing out the record is a bare-as-can be lead vocal from brother Emanuele with just an acoustic guitar and his striking tenor voice which is so transparent one could think he was playing in your room.

With all that said, this is by no means a lo-fi improvised record, it is in fact one of the most considered and beautifully produced and constructed records this writer has heard for a long while.

Dean Roberts, 29/8/2022

Aperture is a sister-brother duo combining the multiple disciplines of poet/artist Elisabetta and producer Emanuele Porcinai.

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