Further activity from Vanessa Rossetto, who, including the production of three recordings last year on her Music Appreciation
label, has developed a distinctive, recognizable voice within a field
of music that is hyper-productive, to put it lightly. She’s an
interesting (and rewarding) musician to follow, and it deserves mention
that, for many, both in the states and abroad, she’s become a point of
representation with which the arts-conscious city of Austin, TX is
currently identified. What’s most engaging is that this voice — in a
comparatively small span of time — has developed without setting foot
outside a 20-mile radius, and that it’s projected from a shoestring.
Using minimal, inexpensive gear and freeware, Rossetto capitalizes on
the freely available environmental noise unique to Central Texas, and
augments with signals from “found” or “everyday” objects, often laced
with her own playing on stringed instruments. Listening to her music,
one gets a very real sense of a musician’s response to (and interaction
with) the surrounding environment, by way of cello, viola, and field
recordings. Many musicians seek the same juncture, but with flat
results. A Rossetto recording leaves us with the appreciation of a
musician’s sincere investment in the process of it all. Two recent solo
recordings are discussed here.
label, has developed a distinctive, recognizable voice within a field
of music that is hyper-productive, to put it lightly. She’s an
interesting (and rewarding) musician to follow, and it deserves mention
that, for many, both in the states and abroad, she’s become a point of
representation with which the arts-conscious city of Austin, TX is
currently identified. What’s most engaging is that this voice — in a
comparatively small span of time — has developed without setting foot
outside a 20-mile radius, and that it’s projected from a shoestring.
Using minimal, inexpensive gear and freeware, Rossetto capitalizes on
the freely available environmental noise unique to Central Texas, and
augments with signals from “found” or “everyday” objects, often laced
with her own playing on stringed instruments. Listening to her music,
one gets a very real sense of a musician’s response to (and interaction
with) the surrounding environment, by way of cello, viola, and field
recordings. Many musicians seek the same juncture, but with flat
results. A Rossetto recording leaves us with the appreciation of a
musician’s sincere investment in the process of it all. Two recent solo
recordings are discussed here.
Among her latest work is a short-ish piece entitled, “Century Oaks,” and is available for free download from Recreating the Domain,
an audio gallery where Austin artists re-imagine and repackage a
high-end local commercial district using site-specific recordings.
“Century Oaks” exemplifies well that aforementioned voice and does so
making full economy of what can be achieved in twenty minutes. I find
it to be her definitive work thus far, for its range of sounds that
sway on hinges affixed to a single mood. An outdoor field capture opens
the piece, from some place in Texas where the birds and wind are active
and cars and airplanes are extinct. These sounds are superimposed with
electrical hums before a semi-abrupt transition to urban sprawl made
acoustic, presumably near The Domain. Industrial rumbling finds kinship
with electronics, only to be supplanted by a continuous, sustained loop
and the fledgling resonances of a bowed viola string. Rossetto deflects
any temptation to settle into a drone, merging the naturally acoustic
with bits of fabricated electronic sound, in sing-song with the backing
environment. Then, a low chunk of cello appears for the denouement just
before a three-note arco viola pattern. Amid field recordings, the
viola makes the transition from happenstance sketch to central figure,
finding company with gradually added, multi-tracked clones of itself,
with no semblance of cadence and building to something orchestral
before dying a lonely death, in a final statement absent of all but the
viola itself. It’s a powerful work whose evolution only its maker will
understand, but with an existential grip from which breaking free is
difficult. It’s a provocative instance of musician-courting-environment.
an audio gallery where Austin artists re-imagine and repackage a
high-end local commercial district using site-specific recordings.
“Century Oaks” exemplifies well that aforementioned voice and does so
making full economy of what can be achieved in twenty minutes. I find
it to be her definitive work thus far, for its range of sounds that
sway on hinges affixed to a single mood. An outdoor field capture opens
the piece, from some place in Texas where the birds and wind are active
and cars and airplanes are extinct. These sounds are superimposed with
electrical hums before a semi-abrupt transition to urban sprawl made
acoustic, presumably near The Domain. Industrial rumbling finds kinship
with electronics, only to be supplanted by a continuous, sustained loop
and the fledgling resonances of a bowed viola string. Rossetto deflects
any temptation to settle into a drone, merging the naturally acoustic
with bits of fabricated electronic sound, in sing-song with the backing
environment. Then, a low chunk of cello appears for the denouement just
before a three-note arco viola pattern. Amid field recordings, the
viola makes the transition from happenstance sketch to central figure,
finding company with gradually added, multi-tracked clones of itself,
with no semblance of cadence and building to something orchestral
before dying a lonely death, in a final statement absent of all but the
viola itself. It’s a powerful work whose evolution only its maker will
understand, but with an existential grip from which breaking free is
difficult. It’s a provocative instance of musician-courting-environment.
Dogs In English Porcelain is the bigger, but more timid,
brother to “Century Oaks,” and is the fourth title to be released on
the Music Appreciation imprint. It takes a commitment of time to get
the full impression from this single 41-minute piece, but it’s a
worthwhile investment whose return pays in dividends of minimalist
electronics and audio captures of small animals and inanimate household
stuffs. Such sounds are eased into the track’s beginning before a
decisive excision around three minutes in, at which point the recording
settles into a room with in- and outdoor activity slowly building.
Interesting here is the introduction of Rossetto’s viola, more as
component of the background, as if played from the furthest corner of a
25′ by 25′ room. Oscillators make quick entrances and faster exits. The
dirty sputter of a passing car finds belonging with the more inherently
musical songs of nearby birds. And then begins the central pursuit: the
periodic consummation of acoustic instrumentation as a feature among
its environmental counterparts. Her cello swaggers in finite
statements, and later, impromptu, unrehearsed viola recitals seem
delivered from a seated position on the floor of that room. This room,
we want to see its walls, know their textures, their colors, their
influence on the sounds that come out of our speakers. From inside
them, Rossetto pulls out hidden sources, like the steady flow of water
and air through household piping, the last sounds we hear. Like last
year’s The Breadwinner, Dogs In English Porcelain brings
things overlooked out of simplification and allows objects and everyday
occurrences to make their own statements, only here in unashamed duet
with the person doing the recording. Where the former is operatic,
Rossetto’s piece is suitably, properly modest. Here, her touch is
everywhere, whether or not she’s making a sound.
brother to “Century Oaks,” and is the fourth title to be released on
the Music Appreciation imprint. It takes a commitment of time to get
the full impression from this single 41-minute piece, but it’s a
worthwhile investment whose return pays in dividends of minimalist
electronics and audio captures of small animals and inanimate household
stuffs. Such sounds are eased into the track’s beginning before a
decisive excision around three minutes in, at which point the recording
settles into a room with in- and outdoor activity slowly building.
Interesting here is the introduction of Rossetto’s viola, more as
component of the background, as if played from the furthest corner of a
25′ by 25′ room. Oscillators make quick entrances and faster exits. The
dirty sputter of a passing car finds belonging with the more inherently
musical songs of nearby birds. And then begins the central pursuit: the
periodic consummation of acoustic instrumentation as a feature among
its environmental counterparts. Her cello swaggers in finite
statements, and later, impromptu, unrehearsed viola recitals seem
delivered from a seated position on the floor of that room. This room,
we want to see its walls, know their textures, their colors, their
influence on the sounds that come out of our speakers. From inside
them, Rossetto pulls out hidden sources, like the steady flow of water
and air through household piping, the last sounds we hear. Like last
year’s The Breadwinner, Dogs In English Porcelain brings
things overlooked out of simplification and allows objects and everyday
occurrences to make their own statements, only here in unashamed duet
with the person doing the recording. Where the former is operatic,
Rossetto’s piece is suitably, properly modest. Here, her touch is
everywhere, whether or not she’s making a sound.
The two recordings are unique enough from one another as to make
their own statements, but at the same time mark a clear, homogenous
waypoint in Rossetto’s growing discography. Dogs In English Porcelain
is irresistible for its strange obscurity, easy on the ears in its own
transformation. And “Century Oaks” assists in the slow drying process
of that cement encasing the merits of free, downloadable music. That
it’s a gem sitting modestly in a small, non-advertised archive only
adds to its appeal.
their own statements, but at the same time mark a clear, homogenous
waypoint in Rossetto’s growing discography. Dogs In English Porcelain
is irresistible for its strange obscurity, easy on the ears in its own
transformation. And “Century Oaks” assists in the slow drying process
of that cement encasing the merits of free, downloadable music. That
it’s a gem sitting modestly in a small, non-advertised archive only
adds to its appeal.
other: Vanessa Rossetto’s “Fall”, a bagatellen listen
~Alan Jones
