Solo Voce by Vittoria Totale

Recital presents a collection of new sound poetry works from Vittoria de Franchis, an independent curator, language researcher and writer operating between London, Berlin and Rome.  Solo Voce, Vittoria’s first album, carries a certain arousal and intimate elation, a kind of sensual communiqué absent from much contemporary music. As Vittoria divulges:

“The recordings were born out of fantasizing and desire. These bursts of fantasy were translated into words that then in their turn became rhythm and sound, producing a nectar of non-semantic vocalizings. These bulletins would emerge while walking in the streets, waiting for someone in a bar, going back home in the tube, working on something manually repetitively, walking on a hill in a rush or just being in bed in the evening and letting thoughts deploy. I often ‘used’ these tracks to flirt with voices I liked, sending my recordings to my muses or lovers. I intentionally created situations of extreme tension and desire that would trigger onomatopoeias. These tracks were made for voices I wanted to touch rather than bodies. Voice, for me, is the uttermost source of fantasy and the erotic.  

Cities have been another tonica of the album. I love to just wander through a metropolis and listen to sounds around me, experiencing this sort of perennial concert. What makes me click with a place is its soundscape, in the same way I’m more attracted to a voice rather than a body. I remember taking days off just to walk and hunt for voices. Sometimes I would walk for hours without eating, guided by a specific cacophony I was drawn to or by an overheard conversation. 

Of the 16 tracks that make up this album, some were written and then performed, others just appeared, triggered by something around me and I recorded them with my phone (intentionally merging with the context that inspired them). As much as I’m fond of crystal clear recordings, which give space and transform the voice into space, I’m extremely attracted by overlaps and mismatches between voices. I don’t know how  this obsession started. I have always had a special connection with my voice, I used to talk out loud to a lot of imaginary friends and loved to sing in the school choir. I hardly listen to lyrics just like I have a hard time looking at movies without subtitles as I automatically transform the voice into sound and can’t follow the plot.

Solo Voce is an album, or composition of compositions, or composition of the desirerer’s desires in which voice is the solo instrument. It deeply excites me to think I can do everything with my voice just by repeating, looping, overdubbing, collaging. I always perform, every day and every moment, this is why there is this ‘totale’ appendix to my name, and I mostly perform when I speak.”

Founded in 2012 by Sean McCann.
Focusing on abstract and beautiful music.
Sometimes just one of those things and sometimes both of those things.

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