Martina Claussen – Verwoben (Album – Forwind)
Genre/Influences: Experimental, Soundscape.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: Based in Vienna (Austria) Martina Claussen is a mezzo-soprano and professor in voice. But she’s also a music composer interested in Electro-Acoustic music.
Content: “Verwoben” sounds as pure Experimental music; an inhibited composition of Electro-Acoustic music wherein the voice has a real essential place. The voice is the first source of noise and that’s precisely what this artist is experimenting with. It can be now spoken- and whispering like, but also more into the classically trained approach of the artist. She joined this experimentation together with monotone, dark tones accentuating the ominous atmosphere hanging over the album.
+ + + : “Verwoben” has something unusual and yet familiar for all lovers of Experimental and Electro-Acoustic work. The main strength of the work mainly emerges at both debut tracks, which have a visual aspect. It’s the kind of ‘music’ that would perfectly match with a visual performance. I especially like the intimate kind of darkness emerging at the title song. I also have to say a word about the sober, artistic artwork of the digipak. A physical release says so much more than digital format.
– – – : This is the kind of experiment you better get prepared to discover; it’s not exactly the most accessible work so you definitely not have to expect something ‘classical’!
Conclusion: Martina Claussen is pushing the boundaries of Avant-Garde and Experimentalism to a higher artistic level; a difficult although fascinating sound experience!
Best songs: “Verwoben”, “Lisa”.
Rate: (7)
Artist: www.facebook.com/martina.claussen
Label: www.forwind.net / www.facebook.com/forwindings
About Martina Claussen
Martina Claussen is a Vienna-based mezzo-soprano, composer and voice professor who explores and combines the sounds of the human voice and sound objects with field recordings and analogue and digital electronics. “Verwoben”, released by Forwind on 14 August 2020, is her debut solo album.
Claussen has since premiered numerous electroacoustic compositions at festivals including Ars Electronica, Wien Modern and Echoes Around Me, and released the duo album “Alchemical Allures” with Katharina Klement on Ventil Records in 2024.
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