Recommended
Ghamccccxc vRR // Réelle
Ghamccccxc vRR, the latest album from Yannick Pozo Vento, aka Réelle, has echoes of works by the likes of Lotic, Obsequies or Arca. This said, the work exercises some deeply personal conflicts. “Most of these sounds, as well as the album title, were created during psychosis without me consciously knowing what I’m doing", Vento states of the album's construction. "Therefore I also can’t remember when or why I wrote down Ghamccccxc vRR on a piece of paper.”
There is certainly a sensate, stream-of-consciousness feel to the LP. This is heightened by the fact Vento uses maverick synthesis techniques which allow them to use pens, brushes and other handheld artistic tools to literally paint melodies. 'Head Held High' is a particularly interesting listen, haunting Theremin-style modulations warble between erratic life-support machine blasts of glitch and staggered marching snares.
There are hints of the celestial too, through Vento's tasteful additive synthesis abstractions and heavily processed vocals. These range from melancholic alien ballads like 'Floating' to the acrid 'Pink' or Gábor Lázár reminiscent 'Unfold'. At other points Vento's productions recontextualise the club with uncanny subversion. 'Fluid Metals' is a personal favourite — vaporous drones take on a seductive quality nestled beneath brittle, plastic-tone atmospherics and penetrating stabs of low-end.
Released on Aïsha Devi's Danse Noire imprint, Ghamccccxc vRR is a fearless exploration into the subconscious - an intimate, and deeply individual work. After receiving a medical diagnosis for schizophrenia shortly after their first episode of psychosis, Vento felt impelled to fully commit to a queer, genderfluid lifestyle, something that impacted their decision to move to Berlin and oppose "conservative energies" with their art as fully as possible. This latest work does a masterful job.
- Published
- Jul 3, 2018
- Credits
- Words by Theo Darton-Moore