Casa by Lucio Capece, Sergio Merce

Slow and deliberate. Out of all the possible ways of capturing one’s attention, “Casa” chooses to arrive unannounced though unassuming. A recording by a longstanding duo and a pairing of unorthodox instrumentation, Capece and Merce decide against gimmicks and opt for a surefooted musical statement instead. The sounds flow in the form of a rich drone which is in turn continuously undermined by subtle magnetic manipulations, the soundfield expanded and altered through simple touches of texture. What is more important, the musicians perform a most dexterous musical construction and at the same time manage to convey the warmth merely implied by the title.

about the project:

Lucio Capece and Sergio Merce play music together since 1993. They started out as members of a saxophone quartet dedicated to playing early and baroque polyphonic music (Guillaume de Machaut, Perotin, Josquin des Prés, Frescobaldi, J.S.Bach). A few years later they were part of Avion Negro, an ensemble dedicated to play its own music; there they worked on long music structures, combining improvisation and composition. In 2002 Merce and Capece started playing together as a duo. Merce created an astonishing electro-acoustic set up based on a portastudio; he played on the head of the machine with a set of small metal objects, working beyond this only with the equalization that the portastudio itself provides. Capece worked in the soprano saxophone and the bass clarinet using his own extended techniques and close-mic amplification.
With this duo, they made a European tour in 2002. After that tour Capece stayed in Europe, first staying in Paris, moving to Berlin in 2004. Since then they have been playing in projects here and there. In Brussels in 2004 they performed together in a Treatise version directed by Keith Rowe, and several times in Argentina whenever Capece could visit his home land. In Buenos Aires they have shared concerts with Keith Rowe, Toshimaru Nakamura, Jason Kahn and Gabriel Paiuk among others.

“Casa” shows them in unusual duos. Capece plays Sruti Box and Merce his electronic set up in the first track, in the second track Merce plays tenor saxophone and Capece the Bass Clarinet. The duos are the result of meetings that happened during the longest visit that Capece made to his home land since his departure in 2002. Capece stayed at his parents’ house with his little new family. Merce in those days was working in the renovation of an old house where he was to move in afterwards.
For both musicians, the house appeared as a main subject. For Capece it was arriving to the house where he spent his life in Argentina -but only for a limited period, for Merce it had to do with creating his new space, leaving behind the one where he had spent all his life until that moment. The recordings took place in both houses where Merce lived and lives now. The Cd tries to capture the warmth and light of close relationships, as well as the need to go somewhere else; the nostalgia and the wish to stay in a safe place that these produce.

Label for experimental music and beyond. 2007-2017

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