3 out of 5

Another set of loose drum (and some other instrumentation?) pieces composed and played by Valentina Magaletti, upon a kit made of porcelain by Yves Chaudouët. And as before: results vary, with what I’d again consider a stronger piece and a weaker piece, one more of a composition, the other more of an experiment. Of course, different tastes will have different takes on that, but the more experimental track – the A-side – ebbs and flows through its sections without much linking, making it feel like separate patterns, just played back to back. There’s some kind of ambient-ish instrumentation worked in here – maybe some editing / mixing done to the percussion – to add another or different layer alongside Valentina’s tap-taps, and the A-side trades off between those layers instead of, like, layering them, making the whole thing stop and start. When you recall that they’re playing on a porcelain kit, it definitely adds interest to the care and precision it must take, ekeing out specific sounds, but still, it’s mostly that – interesting – ebbing into something to groove to in little 30-second segments.

Over on the B-side, things combine in a much more drone-like fashion, though, and this is a much more immersive and compelling track, and maybe also makes it easier to appreciate the artistry in that sense. So perhaps A track is the pieces, B is the construction.

Though not something I’m likely to return to often, the pieces are short and varied enough to be good background for work or whatnot, but it’d be cool to hear Magaletti commit to longer works more along the lines of the B-side’s track.