Carol Genetti, Peter Maunu

*2025 stock* Carol Genetti and Peter Maunu’s music might best be described as genre bending, stream of consciousness, improvised spontaneous composition. Drawing on elements from the second Viennese School is as natural and organic as a contrasting modal, folk inspired melody, albeit with a deranged noise accompaniment. Investigations of delicate sounds might be interrupted by abstractions of animal voices. Quick reflexes determine sudden directional shifts, allowing the music to adapt to its new condition. The instrumentation generates a wide variety of colors and textures. Carol Genetti’s haunting voice deconstructed by her electronics plus Peter Maunu’s various electronically processed stringed instruments result in a cinematic soundscape from an alternate universe.

Documenting Genetti and Maunu’s ongoing collaboration, Gleaners is a project which is long overdue. Genetti and Maunu first met and played together over a decade ago, and have continued to perform as a duo. In 2013, Maunu founded Splice Series (which he currently co-curates and hosts with Genetti), a bimonthly Chicago series, where musicians from varied genres are invited to improvise together. Examples might include the combination of a new music, classically trained composer/improviser with a free jazz horn player, or a computer improviser who also incorporates real time processing of the other musicians. The series functions as an incubator for the experimental music community.

As a visual and tactile response to this music, Genetti created a special edition of ten ceramic reliefs in relation to the Gleaners release. Each relief—made specifically as a wall-hanging which could also house a CD—reflects the raw, gestural and fragile quality of the music. Photographs of these ceramic pieces constitute the artwork for the CD packaging itself.