cello player and electronic artist martina bertoni‘s new album „music for empty flats“ delivers masterfully crafted experimental ambient / drone for fans of hildur guðnadóttir, giulio aldinucci or lawrence english.
martina bertoni is a berlin based cellist and composer. she started playing the cello at a very young age. classically trained, bertoni‘s career soon developed around experimental and film music where her cello has been featured in numerous records, soundtracks for awarded movies and tv series and collaborations, among others with blixa bargeld and teho teardo with whom she recorded several albums and performed at many prestigious festivals all around the globe.
the core of her solo work is based on deconstructing the relationship with her own instrument by combining acoustic sound, repetition, analog and digital synthesis. after the eps „in a paradise you would be happy“ (2018) and „the green ep“ (2019) she released her critically acclaimed full length album „all the ghosts are gone“ with the reykjavík based label falk in january 2020.
on her new album she continues to explore the sonic possibilities of her instrument which she uses as sound source - sounds which are then processed, adding reverb, feedback and sub-bass frequencies and thus crafting sonic sculptures, rich of atmospheres and frictions.
„the inspiration for the title „music for empty flats“ comes from a fraction of time during last winter, while i was visiting iceland. i had the strange opportunity to spend lots of time listening to music, alone in a brand new but unoccupied - therefore completely naked - empty flat in the suburbs of reykjavík. it was christmas, it was constantly dark, outside there was snow, inside there was this strange dystopian empty space in which i could listen to my favourite pieces of music in complete solitude. this is when i started sketching the new record.“ says bertoni.
the resulting seven new tracks deliver masterfully crafted experimental ambient / drone, dense and intense but fragile and sensitive at the same time. A more than impressive new artistic statement by martina bertoni, recommended not only for fans of hildur guðnadóttir, giulio aldinucci or lawrence english!
credits
releases January 29, 2021
all music composed and produced by martina bertoni in reykjavík & berlin 2019-2020
mastered & cut by helmut erler at dubplates & mastering, berlin
supported by 14 fans who also own “Music For Empty Flats”
It's an album that makes you think, forget, feel and cry.
This is what music is about, making you feel things.
Absolute must for anyone that wants to get into experimental music. nheuro
supported by 10 fans who also own “Music For Empty Flats”
A great finial to the project. It's like a glimpse of sunshine behind the clouds at the funeral. Caretaker's funeral. Like a disturbing calm in the ruins after fire. It brings to mind Basinski's classics. C'est fini. 2097
"Remain Calm" is steeped in classical music, yet keen enough to blend contemporary styles—like grime, techno and drone. Bandcamp Album of the Day Dec 2, 2016
supported by 10 fans who also own “Music For Empty Flats”
A haunting series of limbo states providing a space for us to pause and reflect on where we’ve been, where we are and where we’re going. Paul Jordan | OST