Materia Vibrante by Susana López
“ … these feel like decidedly unearthly elements, which carries over into the sound perfectly. Dense, inviting, yet unworldly in its overall tone, it is a fascinating work from beginning to end.”
— Creaig Dunton, Brainwashed
"Being in the world, in all its immensity, can be understood via inner reflection of the body and spirit. This is what López seems to prompt – nowhere more successfully than on this triumphant new album."
— Samuel Rogers, A Closer Listen
"… Susana López has created a quietly monumental album—one that resonates far beyond its minimal means. This is a record I’ll be returning to often. A slow-burning revelation, and without question, one of the most absorbing listens of the year."
— Don Haugen, Igloo Magazine
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“We are like the forces and powers released by a first vibration;
we are perpetual tremulations, we are like a single note that never ceases.”
— Hilma af Klint, 1914
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Small sounds and huge drones populate the surrealistic landscape of “Materia Vibrante”, Susana López’s gorgeous new album, her third for Elevator Bath and first on vinyl. Extraordinarily evocative, this LP is filled with detail and emotive tranquility, while occasionally swelling with the intensity of a raging sea. Surely López’s most elegant and finely hewn work to date, “Materia Vibrante” offers a fully enveloping sonic meditation.
The album was built from field recordings captured at megalithic sites in Ireland, underwater sounds recorded with hydrophones in the rivers of Asturias, and electromagnetic wave scans from Birmingham. These sonic landscapes are interwoven with synthesizers, digital harmonium, experimental “sonic triangle,” multi-effects, percussion, and López’s voice — serving as a thread between the inner and the outer worlds.
The pieces within “Materia Vibrante” form a constellation:
“Mundus Imaginalis” is inspired by the imaginal world, that intermediate dimension where the intelligible and the sensible intertwine — where vision and vibration merge.
“Materia Vibrante” reflects on the alchemical power of art to shape reality. “In recent years,” says López “I have undergone many changes — including illness — which have brought me into deeper awareness of my body, my organs, not just my spirit.”
“Sonic Meditation” evokes life cycles and natural processes of transformation through expanded and ritualistic listening.
“Luminescence” is an ode to technological objects born of material imagination — creations that have helped improve human life through their visionary function.
Taken together, the album's four pieces are an invitation to hear the world as vibration in perpetual becoming. A sonic journey that doesn’t seek answers, but resonances.
Tracklist
| 1. | Mundus Imaginalis | 10:51 |
| 2. | Materia Vibrante | 8:09 |
| 3. | Sonic Meditation | 9:05 |
| 4. | Luminescence | 8:24 |
Credits
Composed, recorded, and edited by Susana López
Mastered by Lawrence English at Negative Space
Artwork by Susana López | Layout by Colin Sheffield
