SERRA, FRANCESCO - Guest Room

"Francesco Serra is an Italian guitarist and sound explorer. His music research focuses on performance practices aimed at expanding the timbre qualities of the electric guitar, as well as the evocative potential of sound in relationship with space and image. In 2012, at the time of his first album, Serra was often compared with musicians such as John Fahey, Loren Connors, and Alan Licht, while this new work entitled Guest Room appears more as a "reductionist", abstract journey comparable in its rigor to the work of Alvin Lucier or Phill Niblock. Starting from a minimal electroacoustic setup (electric guitar, two amplifiers, three snare-drums, a loop machine), this work is the result of his residency at the Angelica | Centro di Ricerca Musicale -- Teatro San Leonardo in Bologna during the 2021 lockdown. A work born out of the intent to catch the acoustic identity of this peculiar space (the theater is a former church, originally part of a convent). Seven microphones positioned under the vault recorded the sound enriched by the refraction on the surrounding surfaces. In the span of a month, it was possible to fully document the signs of a physical presence without leaving out any of the accidental acoustic events that took place during the performance. Entirely performed in real time and without overdubbing, Guest Room is a work of austere fascination, which confirms Francesco Serra as a musician-researcher of both rigorous poetics, and charming identity." - I Dischi Di Angelica .