OdNu — Ronroco Rococo Memories

Native to the Andean regions of South America, the ronroco is a baritone variant of the more well-known charango and is the primary source material for OdNu’s (aka Michel Mazza) latest release, Ronroco Rococo Memories. Mazza, a native of Argentina, takes the stringed instrument and processes it through various guitar effects, such as the Chase Bliss Audio Blooper and Empress Effects Zoia, both of which feature looping programs as well as a host of on board effects. What can be heard throughout the 11 tracks is pitch shifting and reverse delay above all else, with backing tracks of slow baselines and shimmery synth textures to round out the sonic palette. We get rare glimpses of the ronroco on its own, in the introductory phrases of “Under the Igloo”, for example, though the organic is routinely swallowed by waves of digital signal processing.

The aforementioned phrasing and shifted pitching make the ronroco sound at times like a hammered dulcimer or lute, echoing Laraaji and other ambient pioneers, while staying firmly within the world of the guitar. Mazza’s picking can be subtle and at times percussive, highlighted in particular on “Dividing”, which seems to take its cue from the interplay between analog and digital devices. It is not entirely new ground, but the ronroco’s placement within a context of colonization and ambivalent heritage make Ronroco Rococo Memories something of a standout in its field. As for the Rococo in the album’s title, the emphasis on decorative ephemera as opposed to a chugging, central protagonist, puts the question of framing – cultural, musical, technological – front and centre, collecting and repurposing the effects of this unique context rather than attempting to overwrite or correct them.

For fans of ambient textures with stringed instruments, heavily processed, which update in important respects the works of earlier pioneers like Laraaji and others. There is enough layering of material to reward repeated listens, and when taken as a document of ethnomusicology, Ronroco Rococo Memories may ultimately point the way toward new, resonant encounters within the scenography of colonialism and its legacies. To check it for yourself