"“Sti.ll” is the second musical release in FOLIO, the new Greyfade format: book with hard cover in linen (16.5 x 20cm.) + download of the high-resolution album. A “collaborative” release with 12k and Nettwerk

Its content was born from an idea by Taylor Deupree, proposed to Branciforte for the twentieth anniversary of Deupree's almost homonymous album, released in 2002 with just one “L” in its title (“Stil”.) The idea was to change the historically relevant arrangement based on glitches, the quintessential “computer” music, by re-arranging that music for an acoustic ensemble. Even those who don't remember the album can understand why the undertaking is exceptional, being that genre based on the repetition of essentially electronic sounds, up to that meta-sound and meta-creak which is the glitch, once upon a time an aural symbol - in the digital language - of a mistake. To follow the original idea of this re-arrangement philologically, in “Sti.ll” even the fade-outs are achieved acoustically.

Joseph Branciforte succeeds greatly in this immense undertaking by condensing the sound materials of the four intense parts of the seminal electronic version of "Sti.ll" into acoustic pearls arranged, in order, for: 1) clarinets, vibraphone, cello and percussion; 2) guitar, cello, double bass, flute, lap harp, percussion, 3) clarinets and shakers; 4) vibraphone and bass drum. 

The result is surprising as it offers us an excursus into minimalism (say from 1962 to 2002) and embellishes Deupree’s already rich compositional fabric by adding scents of what becomes a bouquet of aural flowers, with hints of early Terry Riley and Steve Reich, or even of the more urbane Andrew Poppy. Re-arranged into an "other" fascinating form, “Sti.ll” breathes sounds that you would not dare call ‘acoustic’ until you read the liner notes. And this alchemy is due, for example, to the trembling harmonic textures obtained by overdubbing up to 15 clarinets. In short, Branciforte gives a life of its own to that “score” we knew. A score seemingly self-limited to its original ‘glitchy’ arrangement, we now hear indeed in its unimaginable adaptation for acoustic instruments and gather new aural spices from it.

A few examples: the opening tune, Snow-Sand, morphs into soothing music sounding almost like four very slow measures of a Miles Davis ballad, punctuated by the brilliant percussive idea of ??a 'brushed paper’ instead of a ‘real’ snare drum with brushes. The last piéce (and title track) is equally outstanding, starting with a ‘ monotonic harmonic swamp, possessed by a droning charm, upon which he builds ripples using liminal melodic rivulets. 

Branciforte and Deupree are joined by a quintet of New Yorkers (Madison Greenstone, Ben Monder, Laura Cocks, Christopher Gross and Sam Minaie) to complete the line-up of these glorious, perfect performers. (8.8)"

This review was published, in Italian, on BlowUp Magazine - gotta to sort out which issue # though...