It’s the EQUINOX.
Voltereta releases this new EP as a homage to the static, permanent, long-lasting, apparently boring, immobile, extensive or maintained, imperceptible, non-changed or mysterious. An exploration of the space between stuff, through the remains of any thing, regardless of stations, cycles or time.
«Nubla» is a conceptual album focused on body and movement. Eight new tracks in which Voltereta explores the internal impulses of the body, proposing an intimate look in a social context of overstimulation.
It is an overflowed work of opposites, in which the search for certainties comes face to face with contradiction, where borders are not clear and boundaries are blurred, presenting a hazy horizon in appearance, but rich in details and inevitably cyclic.
We find here tracks of fluid sonority, almost liquid, persevering music that oscillates between different densities and intensities: from melody to noise, from brute force to lightness, from the transcendent to the daily.
“Returning to our bodies”, says Voltereta, “imposes another type of rhythm, more connected to life. Not from a neo-romantic point of view of unattainable harmony, but as a counterweight to the devastating demands of a consumerist society. This album is an invitation to resistance, against the imposition of being constantly productive, efficient, fast, determined, self-confident and also fit and 100% happy.
I was interested in investigating about the sound of a body that has its own time, that desires, that walks aimlessly, that rests, that is silent and also a body that raises its voice, that is celebrating, partying, playing, jumping, dancing. «Nubla» is, then, a tribute to all those bodies moving free, vulnerable and brave.”
The five tracks from this EP tell the story of the construction of «Cabezas Bien Altas», an imaginary place where its inhabitants arrived after their city of origin was buried under the sea.
Which scars of the past are left in constructions, sculptures, ornaments, folds and streets of the new cities? Can history be given to a place that does not have it? How to preserve the memory of a place that has disappeared?
The idea of this work appeared by surprise one night as a dream, “a great wave was approaching us, it was going to sweep our island and nobody seemed to care much, there was a festive atmosphere and expectation, it was a unique moment. When the water finally destroyed the island, everyone swam to the nearest piece of land, as if nothing had happened.”
The track «Castigo Al Mar» is inspired by the story of “the punishment of the Hellespont”.
It is said that King Xerxes I of Persia, after a storm that completely destroyed a bridge that he had ordered to build, inflicted a scourging on the Dardanelles Sea, having committed an injustice and a personal offense against the king.
The punishment was carried out, according to the will of Xerxes I, inflicting 300 lashes accompanied by a terrible and offensive curse.
The idea from which this EP is born is the search for home, adapting and finding your own identity far from the place of origin. Or how living in a new place suddenly removes all the foundations.
In Greek mythology, Hestia is the goddess of fire that gives warmth and life to homes. From this inspiration, and several experiences of moving to a new city or country, Voltereta shapes these four tracks.
The melodies here are presented as a guide to a more advanced sonic experimentation. An old organ, door sounds, clicks, rain or other recordings collected in Gdańsk, Košice, Berlin, Barcelona or Villena are very present in this work.
There are open spaces, wide, unbeatable avenues and there are also corners of some lived house. An EP that opens another stage, like a slit that lets in the light and floods the entire room.
«Grim» is a dystopian and surreal album that takes influences from cinema and literature.
On the one hand, this work tries to capture the atmosphere of films like ‘Eraserhead’ (David Lynch, 1977) or ‘Alphaville’ (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965). On the other hand, there is a sound translation attempt of the aspirations and limitations of characters from ‘Fahrenheit 451’ (Ray Bradbury, 1953), ‘Brave New World’ (Aldous Huxley, 1932) and ‘1984’ (George Orwell, 1948).
Preoccupation and nostalgia are imposed as if the reality was viewed from afar through some cheap binoculars. Hope appears as something sweet and marketable. Thus, «Grim» ends up becoming a fake soundtrack, as if it had been composed for a post-futuristic classical orchestra.
«Blindaje para puertas automáticas» (‘Armor for automatic doors’) is an experimental work of less than 12 minutes, produced in one night of 2008.
It is a reflection about feeling safe, about places and environments in which we develop an automatic confinement. How to get in, how to get out, how to gloat in comfort or harm.
Messy beats, noises and distorsions are shaken, as if the digital tried to become nature, unsuccessfully, over and over again. It always gives the feeling of being in the dark in rooms where the windows are ellipses.
