Sopraterra (Magda Drozd & Nicola Genovese), Takako Minekawa (嶺川 貴子)

Sopraterra
Zurich-based duo Sopraterra aka Polish composer Magda Drozd + Italian artist Nicola Genovese present their debut album 'Seven Dances to Embrace the Hollow‘.

Brooding, alluring compositions of ambient, drone, electro-acoustic experimentation, baroque / medieval tonalities + shades of post-rock, shoegaze & psychedelic music. An era-spanning odyssey reimagining the timbres of the saxophone & violin for music both sublimely ancient & utterly modern.

On their debut album Seven Dances to Embrace the Hollow, Zurich-based artists Magda Drozd and Nicola Genovese, as Sopraterra, offer exactly what’s announced: seven compositions which, as they unhurriedly flow into each other, mark potential entry points to discover what might be lying underneath. By choosing Sopraterra, which translates to “above the earth” in Italian, as their shared project’s name, Drozd and Genovese indicate their own position in this archeological-looking endeavor, hinting at the potential for sonic explorations to produce deeply submerged discoveries.

Sopraterra’s object of inquiry isn’t easily grasped, traversing histories and blending influences alike. In a timeline-bending manner, musical signifiers from the past, along with specific tonal scales lifted from baroque and medieval music, get digitally synthesized. As sonic matter, the result is distinctly of today: a collection of electro-acoustic compositions that remain experimental at their core, referencing genres like post-rock, shoegaze, or psychedelic, while evoking aural memories of ancient times. Seven Dances to Embrace the Hollow pulls backward

and pushes forward alike. Without ever forcing a didactic listening experience, musical motifs and archetypes are thoroughly investigated. But there is no scientific ambition at play here. Rather, the harmonies of late medieval Ars Nova or the transcendent elegance of Baroque chamber music lend their emotional qualities to perceived ideas of old times. Oscillating between ambient and drone, the album’s seven brooding compositions bring primal connections to a universally shared past to the surface. In its multi-directional positioning, Seven Dances to Embrace the Hollow makes a case for embracing the confusion of warped time and paying attention to all that’s rather felt than seen.

The tour is supported by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, Stadt Zürich Kultur.

チューリッヒを拠点とするマグダ・ドロズド(ポーランド人作曲家)＋ニコラ・ジェノヴェーゼ(イタリア人アーティスト)によるデュオ「Sopraterra(ソプラテッラ)」がデビュー・アルバム『Seven Dances to Embrace the Hollow』を発表する。アンビエント、ドローン、電子音響実験、バロック／中世のトナリティー＋ポストロックの陰影、シューゲイザー、サイケデリック・ミュージックなどを駆使した陰鬱で魅惑的な構成で、サクソフォンとヴァイオリンの音色は、崇高なる古代と全く現代的な音楽のための時代を超えたオデッセイを再構築している。ドロズドとジェノヴェーゼは「Sopraterra（ソプラテッラ）」としてチューリッヒを拠点に活動するアーティストであり、デビュー・アルバム『Seven Dances to Embrace the Hollow（空洞を抱擁する7つの踊り）』では、まさに予告通りの作品を提供する： 7つのコンポジション、それらは互い互いに淡々と流れ込みながら、その下に在るものを発見するための潜在的な入り口を示す。

彼らは、イタリア語で 「大地の上 」を意味する「Sopraterra（ソプラテッラ）」を自分たちの共有プロジェクトの名前に選んだことで、考古学的試みにおける自らの立場を提示しつつ、また音への探究を通じて深く沈んだ発見をもたらす可能性があることを示唆している。