Mario Verandi - Face against Sky (2025) Hi Res

Mario Verandi returns to play loud! productions with his third release for the Berlin-based label. »Face against Sky« sees the composer further explore the delicate interactions between the aesthetic languages of different genres and the sound qualities inherent to certain electronic and acoustic instruments as well as, in one piece, the human voice.

While his previous play loud! productions releases documented various facets of the Argentinian-born artist’s award-winning electronic and electroacoustic work in the past, these eight pieces pick up on the methodology that had already informed his 2020’s album »Remansum«, a turning point in his vast œuvre. Elements from contemporary classical music, avant-garde experimentation, ambient sounds, and intricate rhythms conjure up a unique atmosphere.

The foundations for »Face against Sky« were laid in Verandi’s home studio in Berlin at the start of 2023. »Usually I start working alone on the tracks to get a rough structure and sound material«, says Verandi. Using an analogue synthesizer and VSTs as well as material from his sound library, primarily recordings of acoustic instruments that were manipulated digitally, he »semi-composed« the first pieces on his own. »Most of the material I was working with suggested to me the incorporation of a wind or reed instrument«, he remembers. Hence, he entered the studio with musician and Bux Ensemble member Franziska Salker, who contributed to the record on bass, Helder tenor and Paetzold double bass recorder.
This working process is integral to Verandi’s music since collaborating with two cellists for »Remansum« and is decidedly open-ended: »I like to provide the musicians with basic ideas of what they could play, but I give them freedom to improvise and add whatever they feel is appropriate«, Verandi notes. This allows them to contribute their own vision and signature sound to the pieces, which the composer then finalises on his own. Another result of this symbiotic approach is the piece »Sky once Blue«, which had originally featured a piano. »After listening to an improvised demo track of Franziska’s friend, the singer Johanna Klein, I felt that her special way of singing would fit this track better«. Indeed it is hard to imagine the piece without the ethereal, layered voice of the vocal artist and saxophonist.

Salker and Klein’s acoustic contributions are seamlessly integrated into an aesthetic that primarily draws from various traditions of electronic music. Verandi underscores that while the new album was made in a way similar to how »Remansum« was produced, the end results differ greatly. »›Face against Sky‹ employs more rhythmic elements and feels more electronic, in a way«, he says. As a whole, it is an album with a distinctive sound and character; an album that is evocative, emotional, and subtle at the same time.