Solo continues the in-depth exploration of the electroacoustic device “MEDUSA”, conceived by sound artist and cellist Ricardo Jacinto to create an amplification system with microphones positioned across different parts of the cello, combined with a multichannel diffusion method using contact speakers attached to resonant objects. This setup expands the possibilities of sonic fragmentation and dispersion of his gestures on the instrument’s body, interweaving a microscopic listening of the cello with the surrounding soundscape and the acoustics of the space.

This recording is the outcome of that evolving organism which Jacinto has been testing, consolidating and refining over the last decade. It is rooted in a sonic territory where the cello is “remade” both from its inner material—wood, metal and horsehair—and from the layers of electrical and digital transduction that operate within the MEDUSA system.

Across the album’s seven tracks, the music moves through highly textural sonic domains, pervaded by feedback, resonances and the noises inherent to the physical impulses of the musician and his instrument. These are woven into a myriad of micro and macroscopic sounds, where melodic and harmonic materials are experienced as part of an enigmatic and singular whole.

Format: Vinyl – LP
Label: OSSO
Edition: 200 copies
Year: 2024
Recording: João Maya – CCOP, Porto, 2022
Mixing & mastering: Manuel Pinheiro
Co-production: OSSO + Have Fun With God
Executive production: OSSO
Design: Travassos
Cover photographs: Bruno Lopes [two cello fragments from the installation project “333 partes e 37 segundos” for solo cello by Ricardo Jacinto, 2016]

Price: 25€