Null II and Null III are the second and third part of the well-known Italian/Swiss composer’s massive electronic work on the theme of “nothing” (Null), whose first part saw the light with the 2010 Die Schachtel “Null” edition in ZeitComposers series.
In this pieces Archetti’s thick sound drones borders on the edge of tonality as their many layers develop with a sort of “geological” pace. The work is in fact intended as a musical research on the “interior” of sound, obtained by large masses of sound punctuated by seemingly minimalistic details. The mastery of Luigi Archetti conducts the listener deeply inside the musical events while at the same time introducing a model, just like the traces of a gold seam in the rocks, which the listener can follow and frequently re-encounter over the 140 minutes in which the music unfolds. The result is a trance-inducing sense of slow-motion and even stillness, alternating with subtle changes often obtained only by tiny, almost “invisible” variables. Null is a vast and profound place where perception is confronted with a stream of slow-developing, sometime “still” sound.
Null II & Null III will certainly appeals the fans of Eliane Radigue, Thomas Köner and long and sustained drone electronic music in general.