Otherworldly modular jazz explorations from Ghezzi, Argirò and Anything Pointless at The Vortex

Modular synthesis is something of a dark art. When performed live in a group setting, it approaches a form of musical alchemy, as signals are manipulated to the nth-degree into almost unrecognisable sounds. It can often leave an audience member wondering – who made what noise? This was the case at the Vortex last Friday during an inaugural performance by Maddalena Ghezzi, Maria Chiara Argirò and Anything Pointless. Yet their ability to blend loops and layers into an inextricable mass was testament to the natural symbiosis of the group, as the trio became one. 

Emerald is the fourth release from singer Ghezzi's ongoing duo series, Minerals. Made in collaboration with producer, synth-player and pianist Maria Chiara Argirò, the three-track EP, inspired by sci-fi and feminist themes, reimagines an alternate world centred around women. If that sounds too good to be true, then the live version takes it one step further, stretching out each track into a continuous string of semi-improvised, interconnected ideas with the help of Anything Pointless on modular synth and electronics. 

Ghezzi is stood centre stage with a microphone and sampler while her collaborators are sat on either side behind small tables with synthesizers. All three seem deeply embedded in their music-making. Ghezzi sways gently to the slow ebb and flow of sound while Argirò occasionally bobs her head along in the particularly heavy parts. In ‘land briefly’, high-pitched drones surround clusters of glitchy melodic phrases, repeated over and over with slight variations to hypnotic effect. An improvised transition follows suit, where murmured, out-of-time vocals dance around a transportive, pentatonic synth melody, simulating the feeling of a spacecraft taking off into the unknown. 

The effect is at once futuristic and nostalgic. Against a backdrop of ever-present drones in ‘on the outside’, Anything Pointless gradually speeds up a motor-like sample until it feels like the fast-forwarded flicker of an old film. Ghezzi’s ethereal vocals, also manipulated by Anything Pointless, mix together spoken lyrics and wordless singing, giving the sensation of something ancient but also otherworldly and distant. The frequencies are mostly in the highs and mids, with the relative lack of bass adding to the feeling of weightlessness and suspense. 

Sharing her thoughts after the gig, Argirò remarks on the similarities between modular synthesis and jazz improvisation. Both share a certain “edginess”: participants are in control as they play, but are also required to listen and respond to each other in real time, and to test each other’s boundaries. It’s this experimentation with the unknown that makes Maddalena Ghezzi, Maria Chiara Argirò and Anything Pointless an exciting performance - hopefully the first of more to come.