LE137

Italian-born composer and performer Valerio Cosi is a musical voyager. Starting as a drummer and then incorporating his saxophone skills into his electronic performances, Cosi released an endless stream of solo records and collaborations in the past decade with several labels (Digitalis Industries, Porter Records, Last Visible Dog, Type, Preservation, Small Voices/A Silent Place). His musical work sees him as a multi-instrumentalist who mixes a rare blend of psychedelia, electronica and improvised jazz with significant elements of krautrock, ethnic and industrial music. His latest works have been published on his own imprint called Dreamsheep. Valerio Cosi performs live with his saxophone/drum machine/electronic setup, working extensively over many years solo or with other artists. He was also invited by Dan Snaith to open for Caribou's European Tour in 2008. Valerio has collaborated live with Steve Noble, Thollem McDonas, Bill Kouligas, Makoto Kawabata, Os Loosers, Ginevra Nervi, Midori Hirano, Jay Glass Dubs and more.

Artist notes:
The Aqueduct Walk is a 34 minute long piece of music that draws inspiration from my long walks in the countryside of my native place – Southern Italy; in fact, it is a work specifically conceived for people who want to surrender to a peculiar musical experience while walking alone (or in good company) – surrounded by landscapes and so on. Moods always change and several themes and parts are all intertwined, repeating themselves or morphing into something else – due to its complex and multifaceted nature, it seems to me that The Aqueduct Walk may be (in some funny ways) a prog suite for the 21st century electronic music lover. I was very much inspired by Cluster, early Battiato, Jane Siberry, Tangerine Dream, Tim Hecker, Joanna Brouk and Jim O’Rourke’s The Visitor. Lots of synths and soundscapes on the forefront, but there’s always, and unexpectedly, much more with the instrumentation throughout the whole album.

The more I get older, the more I understand that I really love sounds. But contrary to John Cage’s approach and feelings about them, I tend to treat them as psychological elements and I love to stretch them, modify them, making them unrecognisable. I love deep listening because it helps to connect better with our minds and with sounds – you can also see how many ambient and sleep concerts seem to pop up in big spaces and in big cities. I don’t think it’s another new-age-y kind of trend, because you can witness lots of people surrendering to the unknown there… and when this happens, their subconscious state suddenly starts to prevail. People are searching more and more for this kind of communal experiences that involves deep listening. It doesn’t matter if it’s Morton Feldman, Phill Niblock, Taj Mahal Travellers or Annea Lockwood. It is the experience of leaving everything behind and going into places with sound that seems so appealing and beautiful to many people. This is why Longform Editions is also doing a crucial job in this very specific field.