Ah, that’s more like it, dark and stormy on the way to a gig but still, up there on the rise the ACCA glows warm and welcoming. The arts centre on the Sussex Uni campus has become quite the destination in recent years for those leftfield punters who seek out the experimental and electronic, curious and challenging. With a friendly approach, superior acoustics and canny programming, the venue is now firmly pinned on the muso map.
It’s no surprise then that tonight’s show with modular-synth maestro Alessandro Cortini is a sell out. Here is an artist with an impressive provenance, traceable through collaborations with Lawrence English and Daniel Avery as well as a string of significant solo releases on both Mute and Important Records. Cortini has therefore earned that reputation as a key composer, producer and innovator in the intense world of electronic music. A couple of years ago, he even released his own custom designed synthesiser, the Strega or Witch. There’s also that small matter of his connection with Trent Reznor’s industrial rock stadium fillers Nine Inch Nails as their keyboardist/bass player. Consequently a clutch of NIN T-shirts search out those prime seats as the hall opens its doors for an evening of high-end dark wave entertainment.
Opening up for Cortini tonight is Brighton-based producer and synth operator Matt Hodson (aka MATTHS). When interviewed by SOURCE recently (see here) Matt revealed that although he usually plays to a loose set-list his trusty bespoke modular synths ensured improvisation and surprise were always on the agenda. It’s such crackling, edge-of-the-seat energy and drive that he brings to his slot tonight. Starting with the tribal beats and contorted tensions of ‘Release’, MATTHS powers through a handful of tunes underpinned by a techno-informed rhythmic commitment but spiked with musical curiosity. From dream-wave chord surges to dub reverberations, angular glitch to thumping electro drops, things consistently fall into the right place at the right time over the whole half hour.
As MATTHS warms up, the crowd warms to him. They may be seated, but there are signs of increasing movement and as he raises his arm, DJ style, to mark the transition from song to song, the cheers grow. The penultimate number in this neatly sequenced set blends kosmische clean electronica with bustling techno samba to keep up the locomotion, before a dramatic crescendo of brutal tempos matched by electronic interference closes things down. With a consistently dynamic catalogue of releases to match these explosive live presentations, wider notice needs to be taken of MATTHS.
Helpfully, to restore the equilibrium, there’s none of that frantic on-stage activity you get at band gigs as a two-person crew calmly prepare for Alessandro Cortini’s music. A couple of shuffling table shifts and his rig arrives centre stage looking minimal and sleek, just low-lying modular machinery, a laptop and desk lamp. Being an electronica gig people mill about down front in the interval to take pictures of the tech and capture the Strega synth waiting for action. Then as Cortini time approaches all get seated and the chatter gets expectant. Maybe there’s some disbelief that the gig is actually about to happen (Cortini had recently cancelled his US tour due to illness) or perhaps there’s heated discussion about what he’ll be playing tonight. The motoric and orchestral pulsations of the ‘Volume Massimo’ album? The haunting widescreen of ‘Scuro Chiaro’? More likely neither. Punctually at nine he slides behind his station, waves briefly, removes jacket and we find out.
What unravels over the next forty minutes pivots between the breathtaking and the hypnotic, a long-form, immaculately crafted piece of finely detailed ambience. It begins with a white noise hiss and low bass note moans which get dialled down deep enough to make the ACCA chair backs tremor. Over time Cortini coaxes new textures from the droning single tone, the faint breeze of whispering chords, the submerged call of a gurning rock guitar, some ghosting choral melody, all shifting in and out of focus as his slow-core electronica finds steady momentum.
It’s obviously a work that seeks concentration. Cortini’s focus feels intense, his movements small and head down. At times he steps back, then leans forward to rest his palms flat on the table as if in deep thought before making small tweaks which magic orchestral waves into the air space. To carry the audience deeper into this experience, the stunning visuals are key. Cortini’s music tonight is not a soundtrack, and the film projections aren’t mere complements: this is a piece of intuitively choreographed, holistic sound art.
Seemingly a live development of the ‘Nati Infiniti’ project that Cortini put together with visual artist Marco Ciceri for a premiere at this year’s Berlin Atonal fest, the iteration we are presented with tonight evolves with a natural fluency and flow. The images revolve gracefully, microscopic scans across objects and surfaces in intricate detail, all framed by Cortini’s emotive sound commentary. Encountered live, his ability to take synthesised music and reach out beyond the imagery to connect to an individual’s thoughts and feelings, is striking.
Certain elements stand out: the vicious storm sounds that follow the dive into widening darkness on screen; the curling synth melodies that speak to the delicate addition of visual colour; the subtle psychedelic disturbance injected alongside his speeding loops. All these peaks have impact, but what each listener takes from the performance as a whole is the prime motivation. As the music gets squeezed down to a singular granulating note and the screen fades to a black hole, Alessandro Cortini waves and is gone.
Before the usual applause there seems to be a collective still as people maybe take a moment to return to where they were at the start of the concert. Then, gradually, they begin the drift home.
Attenborough Centre For Creative Arts, Friday 27th October 2023
Words by John Parry
Photos by Victor Frankowski
