Ferran Fages & Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga
corgroc

ap’strophe:
Ferran Fages    guitar
Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga     zither

1.  spring                                 7:53
2.  is like a perhaps hand      39:46

Recorded in Barcelona, December 2008

       

Reviews

"Ap'strophe is Ferran Fages, a guitarist and turntablist from Barcelona, and zither player Dimitra Lazaridou Chatzigoga. They have played together for four years and have developed a quite breathtaking music that sounds something like what eels produce in the stomach. Pure acoustic passages are overwhelmed by orgies of sound where it is difficult to determine what is acoustic and what is electronic. On the album it says that they play guitar and zither, but the instruments are treated as if they were loudspeakers.

It is entirely appropriate that Ap'strophe is part of the guitar series on Another Timbre, especially since it is representative of the new Spanish scene. The music was recorded in Barcelona two years ago, but was mixed last year, and I assume that some effort has gone into the latter part of the process.  The duo has previously produced pieces that are only available in written form, and seem difficult to perform live or to be reproduced.

Ferran Fages is based in noise improvisation, and the guitar sounds he uses seem really open.  But he also plays in a relatively "conventional" way with rolling shapes, measures, leaps and well thought-out passages, which are interwoven with the zither, which sometimes produces loud mists of sound.  Fages is a sonorous and variable improviser whose playing always has a musical flow.

Dimitra Lazaridou Chatzigoga conjures up repetitive shapes that spin out like propellers over Fages’ somewhat slower pace. In contrast to the weight of Fages's playing she spins the music into moments of sharp ecstasy.

The album is divided into two parts. First a brief, strident and cauterizing piece, then a long sound journey where the focus often switches direction.  The music involves roaring clusters of sound that seem to fly forward, reminiscent of the use of sound clouds in noise music. Ap'strophe use these as matter to knead; they punch through them, then pull them down, and fill them with simple scratches or small snaps, things that seem to have been left behind, residues from their improvisations, which they then explore to see what they can do with them. Their attitude is one of a sustained and extreme attention to detail that mixes breakdown, continuity and collage.  They demonstrate that they can stay focused and on track both in sequences of rushing noise, and in quiet passages with small, low-key sounds.  But they never give themselves over fully to either mode; they merely indicate that things could be done in this way, make a suggestion, but then move on to the next sound.  They are unique.  Searing industrial passages that seem new, exist alongside the slightest guitar sounds with minimal tones. And they play in a way I have never heard before.

One of the many highlights of the disc starts in the middle of the second piece, where Dimitra Lazaridou Chatzigoga scrapes her zither - or whatever she does - so that it resembles the sound of a loud saxophonist in the 1970s, while Ferran Fages thoughtfully plays with microtonal intervals. And together they subside after a culmination of small dropping sounds and sparse waves of high pitches. So simple, nevertheless masterful. And then they thoughtfully pick out shards of sound to create the mirror image of the previous sequence.  These reflections create an exciting form or structure through which the listener can move, walking back and forth.  And the music continues, as if they are making use of different tenses at the same time.  The music seems about to float away, but it is held back by its incredible sharpness, remaining long enough for some mirror-like distortion to come back.  It is a journey in a land of mirrors. Both at the beginning and at the end we perceive the same image.

Ap'strophe transform free postimprovisation into a minimalist painting of a new simplicity.  For long periods the album contains completely unexpected sounds, and by the end it offers a trans-art dance rhythm that is hard to resist.  Without doubt one of the best records in the Another Timbre guitar series, and one of the most important releases in a long time in all categories of music.”                                              
Thomas Millroth, Sound of Music

“The second release from the duo of Ferran Fages (acoustic guitar) and Dimitra Lazaridou Chatzigoga (zither) (how great is that name, btw?). The disc consists of two pieces, the first about eight minutes, the other some 40 and, so arranged, it's hard not to hear the album as a prelude and a central piece. Hearing it so has its advantages as it forces one to try to grasp the pieces as a whole rather than a sequence of events which, in this case, with my ears, serves to benefit the music. The first track, "spring", begins quite harshly, even unpleasantly, a screechy, raspy sound (tightly bowed zither?) over a wavering, thin drone. It's a little off-putting on its own but "looking back" at the piece, after the gorgeous denouement of softly stroked guitar, one gets the sour/sweet aspect and it feels like a solid whole.

Similarly, with greater complications, for the long work. On the one hand, it seems to take a while to really find its groove but after it does, you realize how necessary the initial, more meandering parts, were. It opens with delicate, bowed drones, jangling a bit, very pretty then subsides into a very sparse are, all isolated squeaky bowings and soft plucks and taps. Almost imperceptibly, things begin to gel, the two instruments edging into more plaintive tones, still spare, but with emotional resonance. It's not a straight path, though, wherein lies much of the fascination. They veer of into several pathways, some less promising than others, enter some enticing buzz-saw environs and eventually "stumble" into a peaceful, serene glade of sorts, humming and vibrating more solidly, more convincingly than at the beginning. It's quite a lovely journey, imaginatively (if unconsciously) plotted.”       
Brian Olewnick, Just Outside