Das Ergebnis ist, wie es sinngemäß im Begleittext heißt, ein fließender, organisch wirkender Strom aus Ambient, Drone und elektroakustischen Texturen, in dem sich die Beiträge beider Musiker kaum noch voneinander trennen lassen. Im Wortlaut heißt es zu den Hintergründen des Albums: “Die Entstehung des Werks spiegelt dessen Wesen wider. Jeff Düngfelder begann damit, eine fundamentale Umgebung zu formen: eine weitläufige Klanglandschaft aus Bandschleifen, Elektronik und sich wandelnden Schichten bearbeiteter Klänge. Dieser anfängliche Gestus war weniger eine Komposition als vielmehr ein Terrain – eine Atmosphäre, die in Bewegung verharrte, reich an Raum und Möglichkeiten. In dieses lebendige Feld trat Michel Mazza ein und reagierte intuitiv – mit E-Gitarre, Elektronik und einem tief verfeinerten Formgefühl. Seine Improvisationen lagern sich nicht bloß auf dem Fundament ab, sondern durchdringen es – indem sie dessen Konturen biegen, brechen und neu gestalten –, bis die Unterscheidung zwischen Ursprung und Reaktion gänzlich verschwindet. Was dabei entsteht, ist eine wahre Synthese: kein Dialog, sondern eine Transformation. Die Identitäten beider Künstler lösen sich in einem gemeinsamen Strom auf, in dem der Klang fortwährend neu geformt, wieder aufgenommen und neu geboren wird. Klangtexturen blühen auf und verebben wie ein Atemzug; Töne flackern am Rande der Wahrnehmung; melodische Fragmente tauchen kurz auf, nur um sogleich wieder unter die Oberfläche zu gleiten. Der Musik wohnt eine stille, beinahe schwerkraftartige Anziehungskraft inne – sie zieht den Hörer nach innen und fördert einen Zustand der Aufmerksamkeit, der zugleich meditativ und fließend ist. Ähnlich wie das Artwork des Albums – auf dem sich transluzente Formen überlappen, verschmelzen und in sanften Abstufungen von Licht und Schatten weiterentwickeln – existiert *Metamorphoses* in einem Zustand des ständigen Wandels. Nichts ist fixiert. Grenzen verschwimmen. Formen werden zu Gesten; Gesten werden zu Raum. Wärme und Dichte weichen der Luftigkeit und dem Schwebezustand, nur um sich daraufhin erneut in neuen, unerwarteten Konfigurationen zusammenzufinden. Die Musik bewegt sich, wie Wasser sich bewegt – wie der Wind die Oberfläche einer Landschaft neu formt: subtil, beharrlich, ohne Eile, und doch niemals stillstehend. In diesem Sinne ist *Metamorphoses* nicht bloß eine Komposition, sondern ein Prozess, der sich in Echtzeit entfaltet. Sie lädt den Hörer nicht dazu ein, ihr bloß zu folgen, sondern sie zu bewohnen – in ihren Strömen zu treiben, die Orientierungspunkte von Anfang und Ende hinter sich zu lassen und den Klang als eine lebendige, sich wandelnde Präsenz zu erfahren. Es ist der Klang der Transformation selbst: allmählich, unvermeidlich und von stiller Tiefe.” (Audiobulb). Das Album erscheint digital mit Artwork von Jeff Düngfelder.

@ Bandcamp 

“The Ronroco is a stringed instrument of the Andean regions and it is the baritone relative of the charango. Its sound box was traditionally made from the shell of an armadillo or tortoise but is now commonly made of wood. It typically has 10 strings in five courses of 2 strings each. Rococo is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration. It combines asymmetry, undulating curves and elaborate ornamentation to create surprise and the illusion of motion and drama. It is often described as the final expression of the Baroque movement. Inspired by the ronroco album of Gustavo Santaolalla, OdNu uses the ronroco as a source of sound and takes it to new territories by exploring sound deconstructions and decomposing it through effects chains that include a modular system, Zoia patches and a Blooper to create a lush palette of sounds that even though they have originated from the Ronroco it’s at times hard to imagine its source. The album is also full of bubbling rococo ronroco arpeggios that exude melancholic melodies supported by the addition of synth sounds and field recordings. All of these elements takes the album outside of the world music realm and into an experimental micro sound and textural dreamscape full of subconscious memories from OdNu’s Argentinian past”. (Audiobulb)

“It was the philosopher Aristotle that first coined the phrase “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” In the case of the new album Abandoned Spaces by OdNu + Ümlaut (Michel Mazza & Jeff Düngfelder), this rings true. Both artists have lived many years in New York City, and both now reside in the countryside a few hours north of the city. And even though they only recently became acquaintances (through Audiobulb Records) their shared life experience made them perfect for this partnership. The result are compositions that reveal unexpected sounds and new ways of listening. Abandoned Spaces merges both artists’ distinctive sounds, talents and approaches to music making into an album that is full of otherworldly textures and melodies. Using a reductive approach to the compositions but with meticulous attention to detail Mazza and Düngfelder create jazzy vignettes that flow through heavily processed electric guitars, bass lines and drums that weave themselves into an ambient landscape of chiming micro sounds and ephemeral melodies. Songs flow into one another like water, which lends a devotional feel to the listening experience. In its truest sense, Abandoned Spaces is a tone poem. A merging of seemingly distinctive musical genres, it is an album of pristine sound design and unclassifiable style.” (Audiobulb)

“My Own Island is the result of my latest explorations within the immersive music realm and is my first Dolby Atmos album. My last album Expansive Nothingness was mixed binaurally and I really appreciated the spaciousness that the technology lent to my compositions. After that album was released in 2021, I became curious about Dolby Atmos and so alongside the creative process of composing this latest release, I was also figuring out the technical aspects of designing and setting up my own Dolby Atmos studio. I was interested in creating a studio environment that is immersive so that my composing, editing, mixing and mastering experience was also immersive. And in the process, I felt like I was creating my own island. My Own Island is about that personal creative space and individual internal reality that each of us has. Each track on the album are poems within poems where I encoded my ideas and feelings into the sounds, loops and melodies. Even the album titles can be read like a poem. The guitar is the main instrument (even synth sounds are played with a midi guitar) with the addition of supporting instruments like voice, charango, clarinet, prepared vst piano, various synths and field recordings. All sounds pass through hardware effects back and forth before being recorded in my DAW. The mix is also a big part of the composition where I work with fader and knob gestures as an expressive tool in order to add a more human feeling. The result is a weaving in and out of leitmotifs that travel through ambient landscapes, dub infused passages or even sometimes song-like structures. A humanistic, expressionist, unclassified album guided by intuition and mixed in Dolby Atmos and made entirely on my own island.

@ Bandcamp

“OdNu’s latest release Expansive Nothingness is a binaural 3D textural experimental guitar ambient album. It was recorded throughout the weird year of 2020 as a way for Michel to cope and channel his feelings on the events that took place. He discovered that even the most intense, chaotic and surreal realities can become harmonious when we don’t let fear control us and we allow ourselves to observe from a perspective of expansive nothingness.

Michel uses the electric guitar as the main sound source for this album but always very processed, sometimes to the unrecognizable and often pushing the guitar sound to the breaking point. Loopy leitmotifs come and go knitting feelings and ideas and creating a space that for a time seems unable to contain itself. In this way he is able to create music that is visceral, raw and dramatic and he pushes sound to experimental directions without losing clean and recognizable melody and emotion.” (Audiobulb)

@ Michel Mazza