Live Journeys by Symbiosis Orchestra

Symbiosis Orchestra blends everything together, fuses everything, takes down genre and esthetic barriers to achieve a state of perfect symbiosis between electronic and acoustic music, computer-based and natural processes, composition and improvisation, beat and pulse, melody and texture, not to forget sound and image.

Created in 2005 by Italian sound artist Andrea Gabriele (Pirandèlo, Mou, Lips!) for a festival in Pescara, this size-shifting mixed-media ensemble has been carrying on with its journey in live performance settings enhanced by Claudio Sinatti's stage designs and visuals (Sinatti's work can be seen on the album's cover). If that particular dimension of the project is conspicuously absent from "Live Journeys", the project's first full-length release, the cinematic universe of the group's music gloriously unfolds.

"Live Journeys" offers a selection of live moments taken from various performances and featuring several permutations of the ensemble in trios, quartets and quintets. Gabriele (keyboards, computer, guitar & bass) is surrounded by an all-star line-up of sound designers and performers. From the electronic scene, there is Robin Rimbaud (aka Scanner), Mario Masullo (Defrag and DSP Recordings labels), and Iris Garrelfs, whose treated voice provides a bridge toward the realm of acoustic sounds, here represented by vibes player Stefano Tedesco (Strings of Consciousness), jazz flutist Geoff Warren, and instrumentalists Diego Conti (violin), Roberto di Egidio (trumpet) and Michele Scurti (piano).

Despite the highly developed artistic process behind "Live Journeys", the music is surprisingly easy to listen to. This CD grabs your ears and strikes your imagination, thanks to its spectacular symbiosis between electronica, improvisation, and experimental ambient music.

Baskaru is a French record label dealing with experimental electronic music and sound art.

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