Solos
Solos
Brooklyn, NY
| Matteo Liberatore: SolosiTunes Artist's PageiTunes Album Page | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Song Title | Time | Price | |
| 1. | Agnes | 04:05 | $0.99 |
| 2. | Untitled #9 | 02:56 | $0.99 |
| 3. | Gravity | 03:49 | $0.99 |
| 4. | Chimera | 01:48 | $0.99 |
| 5. | Coral | 07:00 | $0.99 |
| 6. | Barrea | 03:24 | $0.99 |
| 7. | Alberto | 03:26 | $0.99 |
| 8. | Ubiquitous | 02:24 | $0.99 |
| 9. | Causeway | 04:44 | $0.99 |
| 10. | MMXVI | 03:37 | $0.99 |
| 11. | Fisherman | 02:27 | $0.99 |
| 12. | Matryoshka | 03:48 | $0.99 |
Solos is a sonic exploration of the acoustic guitar. But that glib description gives short shrift to the daring and abstract worlds unearthed from within the instrument by Matteo Liberatore (using such unconventional tools as metal springs, alligator clips, a bass bow, and a kick drum beater). The mountainous, medieval region of Abruzzo, Italy, where Matteo grew up, inspired an overarching darkness in his sound as much as being the son of an architect fostered his deep appreciation of textured expression and modern art movements. Now resident in Brooklyn, Matteo's new album draws from his early experience of life in America - the rawness of a world where incredible art and expression flourish alongside money market-driven politics.
Matteo’s other projects (including his experimental electronic band, Una Lux, described by Entertainment Weekly as “Caravaggio Meets Portishead”) have involved electric guitar and synthesizers, so this acoustic album is something of a departure. Guitarist-composer Elliott Sharp, who mixed and mastered Solos, calls it a “fantastic record”, with “surface, depth and texture”.
"Despite the variety of sounds he produces, Liberatore doesn’t sacrifice compositional cohesion for instrumental experimentation. Innovative and uncanny, his technique doesn’t act as an end in itself but, rather, as a means for him to express uncertainty and disquiet to haunting effect." [FULL ARTICLE] - Annie Murnighan
"It's the record of one man's focused attack on the most common of instruments using uncommon methods." [FULL ARTICLE] - Jon Sobel
"Solos presents a dark world of innovative sounds, an avant-garde/noise/classical-folk-jazz-like hybrid. Strange yet accessible music that seems just a beginning of an exploration of unlimited possibilities." [FULL ARTICLE] - Dan McClenaghan
"Liberatore's lack of interest in convention has him using everything from alligator clips to a bass drum pedal to elicit a vertiginous variety of sounds out of his instrument. Some songs are more rambling than others, but the tactile quality of the music is never less than fascinating. Try the fractured lyricism of Causeway if you just want to dip a toe.” [FULL ARTICLE] - Jeremy Shatan
"Liberatore pushes the boundaries of guitar-driven compositions. His avant-garde style is steeped in improvisation. Predominantly dark in tone, Liberatore’s music leans toward making abstract figures...music on his release Solos are a product of his mind. Instruments (mainly his acoustic guitar) scrap, pluck, moan, and shimmer intermittently. The journey takes the listener into the subterranean levels of the mind." [FULL ARTICLE]
"This is not just sonic novelty or gratuitous use of extended techniques; each of the pieces while largely improvised, have clarity and purpose that creates really interesting and memorable pieces of music...“Solos” is a wonderful record that introduces us to an interesting new voice in the world of experimental guitar. Liberatore’s music is very imaginative. “Solos” explores textures driven by propulsive rhythms, stark counterpoint of contrasting colors, and lyrical noise, sometimes all in the same piece. Highly Recommended!" [FULL ARTICLE] - Chris DeChiara
"Matteo attacks the instrument with items like metal springs, alligator clips, a bass bow, and a kick drum beater. Solos reveals that the electronics of his previous work were just the icing on the cake of his musicality." [FULL ARTICLE]
GAPPLEGATE CLASSICAL - MODERN MUSIC REVIEW
"Beyond and aside from the rather ingenious ways the guitar is rethought with the various extended techniques of which Matteo makes very creative use, the music fascinates on its own." [FULL ARTICLE] - Grego Edwards
"Listening to this album, I feel like my fingers are running along a raw edge of sheet metal. My body tightens up and my heart beats a little faster. Liberatore and the imagery he has created has physical affect." [FULL ARTICLE] - Jeanne Landers
"The acoustic guitar jingles, clangs; the strings sing, squeak, shriek, and shimmer in this imaginative release that takes the instrument well beyond its usual borders.” [FULL ARTICLE]
"This excellent “Solos”, released for the American label Innova, is a beautiful photograph of how much his guitar and his musical thinking are today focused." [FULL ARTICLE]
