Amirtha Kidambi/
Lea Bertucci

Phase Eclipse

With a minimalistic approach, Lea Bertucci and Amirtha Kidambi confirm that less is more, and manage to keep Phase Eclipse an enthralling experience all throughout, conjuring catharsis through serenity, intensity and the naïve. 

Most of Lea Bertucci's body of work can be summarized in the following thesis: “how does sound interact with space?” and while the artist has focused more on exploring this premise on an architectural context, here, she is working within the confinements of the human body, specifically the throat, the diaphragm and larynx; and when all those physiological components happen to belong to Amirtha Kidambi's respiratory system, the listener is in for a truly visceral experience, full of moments that conjure catharsis through serenity, intensity and the naïve. 

     Elongated melismas split in two and soar through the sky like rays of light; chaotic scats saturate the mix and break the barrier between the speakers and the listener; all of a sudden, you have someone making slurping sounds right in your face but you can't -and don't want- to look away. Such is the power of Kidambi's voice, which is heavy and versatile on its own, but on Phase Eclipse, it gets an extra boost thanks to Bertucci's erratic manipulation. The vocal delivery is such, that you will practically feel the effects of hyperventilation after the music is over. Amirtha shows that she can shine on whichever role she is fulfilling, whether it is as band leader or as the middleperson between distorted sounds and the sound distorter.

This is not the first time these two artists have collaborated but it is the first time they have comitted it to tape, and perhaps this is why the album feels almost ritualistic in fashion; the way the droning choirs create duplicate layers in songs like "Under the Influence" and "Smoldering, Seething" make it seem like you're listening to a large group of entranced people moaning in unison, as if in celebration of this spiritual meeting. But if this were to represent any instance of a ritual, it would be the moment in which the effects of those "sacred plants" everyone ingested at the beginning of the ceremony, start kicking in. Reality distorts and you can see and feel the sound as it materializes and begins to warp; you can even swear that the voices are melting and wrapping around you. This is a meditative endeavor, and as such, it is not without its fair share of moments full of sheer insanity and confusion, but we all know that every journey that seeks enlightment eventually will lead up to a climax full of warmth and serenity at the end. The last five minutes of the colossal closing track -an improvised live session- are a much needed rest for the listener, and for the artists too. We have reached an altered state of consciouness; we found transcendance through this meticulously raw experience.

This is not an easy listen, but it's like highway hypnosis: with every passing minute you succumb more and more to the droning effect of the extended notes and repetition; your body becomes more in tune with the melodies, which in turn, makes all those tiny dissonant overtones created by the microtonal pitch shifts pop out like mysterious silhouettes in the middle of the road, abruptly making you hit the breaks. The result may not be completely full of couterpoint, but every layer has its own personality, bending towards different directions, never astraying too far from the main key and eventually converging into one another, going from polyphony to homophony before collapsing and exploding into hissing static.

Analyzing each track individually might not be the best way to approach this LP, since it works better if seen as a single piece divided in different movements. Besides, there is not much in way of any discernible difference between these cuts. It's not that they all sound the same, but the elements -voice and voice manipulation- remain unaltered from song to song. With this minimalistic approach, Lea and Amirtha confirm that, indeed, less is more, and Phase Eclipse does manage to remain enthralling all throughout; however, there are instances in which more elements would have been welcome, but this is a minor issue when one takes into consideration all the work that went into creating every texture on the album. This wasn't just a case of a classic "microphone through effect pedals" kind of setup. Bertucci’s sound manipulation consisted of creating live tape loops of Kidambi’s voice and altering them to change the pitch and speed. In some ways, the dynamics are reminiscent of Aaron Dilloway’s work but not as jarring or purely noise-oriented.

Phase Eclipse owes a lot to the sonic experimentations of the past, but it doesn’t sound like it is stuck on a certain era; Lea and Amirtha manage to deliver a forward-thinking album by keeping a progressive approach and, even with all those empty spaces that were left unfulfilled, the end result is quite unique.