Oofth by Massimiliano Milesi

“…An image? […] it could never really have five dimensions:
length, width, height, ifth and oofth: at least that’s what I think…”

These are the words used by scientist Oliver Farnsworth to describe one of his most unreal inventions: a mysterious 5-dimensional hypercube (penteract) machine. Ignoring the actual nature of the additional dimensions, Walter Tevis’ novel character pulls these two names out of the air to describe them. He will later discover that the fourth dimension (ifth) is nothing but time, and oofth is a sort of alternative time.

This novel, The Ifth of Oofth, is included in the 1981 collection Far From Home by sci-fi writer Walter Tevis. Tevis is arguably the most beat-inclined writer in the U.S. sci-fi literature: he unloads his obsessions, solitude, despair into his writing, along with a complete repulsion for American capitalistic system. His sci-fi work is different: less technic-scientific expertise, more literary depth: his writing works as analysis of his deepest fears.

In this novel, Tevis describes an unbelievable yet scientifically possible scenario: breaking into the fifth dimensions, the characters interact with the future, connecting two moments that are distant in time and putting them into a dangerous cause-effect relationship. Actions completed in the past repeat catastrophically in the future. The absurdity in folded time-space makes it possible for the universe to be kept in a small-sized box.

OOFTH is Massimilano Milesi’s debut album, out on Auand on March 22. The project sparks from these surreal and bizarre circumstances. The originals often refer to sci-fi movie soundtracks. As in Tevis’ novel, sometimes the time flux gets unclear and muddy, pushing the sound images through different circumstances. The heavy use of electronics contributes to the opening of sidereal images. At the same time, the continuous exchange between Bass VI (a bass guitar that replaces the electric bass) and synth causes the same disorientation the characters are feeling after their bewildering discovery. Tenor sax and drums maintain their acoustic nature, exploring timbers and sound mutations. Many titles refer to concepts or elements that are special to sci-fi and that belong to astronomy or physics, while some others come from sci-fi literature itself.

Massimiliano Milesi saxophone player and composer studied with Tino Tracanna and with whom he started a productive artistic partnership that gave birth to the Double Cut quartet. Among the many collaborations, he also played with the Wayne Horovitz European. Since 2016 he’s a permanent member of Take Off, an ensemble that explores the boundary between contemporary music and improvisation.

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