Description
#alvanoto #vinyl #vinylrecords
Alva Noto’s HYbr:ID series elegantly blends science, art, and culture, a journey that has evolved since 2021 through intricate graphic scores and spatial albums, often commissioned for Richard Siegal’s dance productions. The latest installment, “HYbr:ID III,” is the most captivating yet, drawing inspiration from Japanese Noh theatre to craft ultra-physical soundscapes reminiscent of trickling grains, shifting pebbles, and heavy rain on glass.
“HYbr:ID III” transcends the conventional album format, its expansive reverbs and high frequencies creating a boundless auditory experience. The album’s tracks are populated with collaged noise clips and serene notes that trail into ambient soundscapes. Alongside an exhibition for the MACRO Museum in Rome that spans the entire series, “HYbr:ID III” also serves as the soundtrack for Siegal’s 2023 production “BALLET OF (DIS)OBEDIENCE.” Tracks like “Noh Talk” feature shimmering, string-like synths that form slow-moving arabesques, while rays of starlight morph into metallic whistles and eroded digital sighs, echoing the long wavering notes characteristic of Noh theatre vocals.
“Sync Dark” disrupts the stillness with tactile bursts of split-second percussion and howling winds transformed into inky lasers. Alva Noto’s signature minimal techno, glitches, and microbeats are deeply embedded in this album, dispersing energy through coursing distortion and resonant liquid synth strums on “Noh Human.” The album brews tension with fiery bass and skittering rhythms, particularly in tracks like “Collective Open,” which rises into a spectral sea of soft noise driven by cinematic chords.
The duo of “Obsessive Behaviour” tracks further explores sonic turbulence, with “Day” drilling electronics into minuscule smithereens and “Night” cycling through rebounding glass thunks and buzzing, sparking frayed wires. Alva Noto masterfully creates morphing, electrifying compositions through subtlety and textural world-building on “HYbr:ID III,” solidifying his place as a visionary in the realm of experimental electronic music.
