Argot

Rarely does technological invention deliver such a beautiful result as Argot, the fourth album by Italian pianist Nicoletta Favari and American percussionist Christopher Salvito, aka Passepartout Duo. Classically trained, the pair explore sound together in multidisciplinary environments; this particular album is a collaboration with a 1970s Serge System synthesiser during a residency at the Electronic Music Studio in Stockholm. Using speech melody transcription techniques, they have allowed and guided the modular synthesizer and themselves to compose hauntingly contemplative pieces that glisten with oddly shaped but crystalline piano melodies and unpredictable rhythms (there are no drums). At no point, however, does their experimental approach to composition overwhelm the emotional weight of the music. Tracks like the string quartet-boosted ‘Viols and Violas, in Mus.’ or the aching harmonic duel of piano and Japanese flutes on ‘Colorful Quartz’ are highly satisfying indeed. Even at its most abstract, there remains a deeply human musical connection.