Saaret by Angelo M. Farro

"Saaret" is the new album by Angelo M. Farro, born from a commission for the soundtrack of a documentary about Helsinki, originally developed as part of the 2023 Helsinki Biennale Soundwalk project by the collective Critical Environmental Data.
Directed by Paolo Patelli, the resulting documentary was filmed entirely on Super 8 in a 4:3 format, creating a series of meticulously composed “tableaux” — visual paintings of the city. The album inherits this structure, creating a different sound language for each neighborhood. Each section is distinct in tone and rhythm, linked through deliberate framing and variable editing.
The structure of the album draws inspiration from Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, with “Promenades” serving as interludes that connect the various sonic environments. Mussorgsky’s material is reimagined through sampling, re-recording, and electronic treatment, creating an interplay between homage and transformation. Interwoven throughout are fragments of Finnish music forming a multilayered dialogue between histories and identities.
Central to both the film and album are the voices — recordings from the original Soundwalk project. For the album, these were expanded and transformed: human narrations intertwine with synthetic and algorithmically read voices, sometimes in contrast, sometimes in harmony. Words dissolve into pure sound, alternating between clarity and abstraction, speech and song.
"Saaret" is not just an album about the city of Helsinki, but a work that explores various dualities. Image and sound, humanity and machines, man and the modern city, the survival of cultural traditions in a context of occupation.

Angelo M. Farro is a composer and sound artist ranging from audio/video installations to music for radio, film and television. He is currently the main assistant and collaborator of Alvin Curran, curator of the Film scoring laboratory courses of the “Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia” in Rome headquarters and professor of Film scoring at the same institute. His previous album, The Night of the Electric Insects, was released by three:four records in 2022.

Angelo M. Farro (1984) is a composer and sound artist ranging from audio/video installations to music for film.
Assistant and collaborator of Alvin Curran, professor in Electronic Music and Cinema at the filmscoring laboratory courses of the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome headquarter.

angelomariafarro.com
Facebook