Grand River signals the close of a particularly bitter Winter with an homage to rebirth, renewal and growth.
Grand River, the alias of Berlin-based, Dutch-Italian composer and sound designer Aimée Portioli, conducts a paean of rebirth and renewal over the course of her transcendent Fact mix, structuring it as a rite of Spring – the perfect coda for the Easter Monday after a long bank holiday of debauchery. Drifting elegantly between virtuosic synthesis, twilit drone, granular fractalizations, electro-acoustic, hybrid experiments, gauzy clouds of noise and expressive, electronic takes on classical composition, Portioli signals the close of particularly bitter Winter and the stirring of new vitality.
“The mix was recorded in my home during the first days of Spring, 2023,” she explains. “It is a homage to this beautiful rebirth, renewal, and growth period. The mix is rich in choral, dense aerial, almost spiritual textures, and enthralling melodies.” In this way, the mix unfurls as a continuation of a project the composer explores on her recent album for Editions Mego, All Above, which saw Portioli striving to develop an emotional language, unconstrained by words and cultural limitations.
Having trained as a linguist, Portioli’s approach to composition reconfigures arrangement as centred around drives and moods, a means by which to communicate the most nuanced and complex thoughts and feelings without words. Here she achieves the same, finding wellsprings of psychic articulation in abstract sounds that conjure internal clarity, the illumination of nascent Summer sun piercing through the smog.
You can find Grand River on Instagram and at her website. Grand River will present Tuning The Wind, a concert in 4DSOUND, at Stone Nest on May 15.
Tracklist:
Dylan Henner – ‘A New Living Being Opens Its Eyes For the First Time’
Jens Pauly – ‘Erinnern’ (Rework)
Jan St. Werner – ‘Sipian Organ’
Gintas K – ‘Bonus Sound’
Marsen Jules – ‘De La Mort D’un Cygne’
Giulio Aldinucci – ‘Rhizomatic Realities’
Noémi Büchi – ‘Prelude for Rational Freshness’
FRKTL – ‘Fire Upon The Deep’
Meer – ‘Al Nasr Wa Al Hazima’
Dino Spiluttini – ‘Body at War’
Quiet Voices – ‘Quiet Voices of the Ether’
Space Afrika – ‘Version 1’
Listen next: Fact Mix – i-sha
