Andreas Trobollowitsch — Ventorgano

For me, the use of hand-made musical instruments and synthesizers, and/or the use of traditional musical instruments in an unconventional way, has always been the most experimental and extreme form of sonic creativity. Regardless of the musical genre - be it the classics of Musique Concrete to modern experimenters. So when received a copy Ventorgano for review, I was most keen to give it a play- as it finds Austrian artist Andreas Trobollowitsch utilizing his own home made electro-acoustic instrument.

Mr Trobollowitsch discography is not huge. As a member of the project Acker Velvet, he released two albums - in 2009 and in 2012. Until now, Andreas Trobollowitsch's solo discography only  featured one album Roha, from 2016, as well as the soundtrack for several silent films, recorded with David Schweighart and released in 2012 on DVD titled CinemaSessions # 5 - Liquid Screen. However, Andreas Trobollowitsch is a very productive artist, acting as a composer, performer and creator of very interesting installations relating to sound- videos of some of these can be found on Trobollowitsch.

Andreas Trobollowitsch's new solo album Ventorgano was released by Japanese label mAtter. The album is presented as either a vinyl LP, or digital format.

Ventorgano is a home-made musical instrument created by Trobollowitsch- it’s both acoustic, electro, and mechanical. It’s quite difficult to describe the construction of this amazing instrument, so I’ll quote the official description provided with the release: 'The Ventorgano consists of guitar strings, wooden resonating bodies and converted fans which use cello-bow hair instead of propellers to set the strings into oscillation, Rotating speed, string tension and attack can be adjusted progressively, allowing the player to control micro rhythmical elements and subtle changes in the overtone spectrum'. In fact, a photo of Ventorgano is on the album cover. No textual information is provided on the cover. I think that placing on the cover of a photo of this instrument was the most optimal and best solution.

The album consists of two tracks (one on each side of the LP) and together they last a little over thirty-one minutes. Though the album takes two tracks, I’ll give my general impression, because the pieces are fairly similar, despite the difference in composition. I would define the main stylistic line as an acoustic drone of various intensities, ranging from high notes to low deep overtones. However, due to the design features of the musical instrument, the sounds of striking the strings are clearly audible. These have a metallic sound and are produced at different speeds, depending on what's attached to either a ten fan motor, or  hair from cello bow. The combination of these create different frequencies with amazing atmospheric sound. And despite the obvious minimalism of the overall sonic picture. I can’t say how the amplification or reduction of the sound volume was achieved, but this also plays a big role in the composition. It is also worth noting the great work on capturing the sound here- we can hear great stereo and the sound of every string and element. Of course, when listening to the album, I had several associations with the works of other artists. I would mention Elaine Radique, Pauline Oliveros, and someone from the classics of Musique Concrete.

At its core, the album is a demonstration of the technical and sound capabilities of Ventorgano, combined into a composed form. In my opinion, this instrument is an amazing invention, the capabilities of which have not yet been fully realized yet. Yes the, Ventorgano is a fairly minimal instrument, though it has wide sound possibilities. It be great to see hear combined with other instruments & sounds.