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We are delighted to present Italian born composer/performer, Stefano Pilia on Wednesday, September 30, 7:30pm at Harrison House. There's a lot to say about his very unique approach to composition and performance that brings forward "a new sonic meditation in troubled times." This will be the only opportunity to experience his work in southern California before he returns to Italy. We thank Luciano Chessa, our 2026 Harrison House residency fellow for bringing us Stefano who will perform his latest works "Spiralis Aurea" and “Lacinia” featured on the newly released double album, on Die Schachtel and SZSugar, in an original adaptation for electric guitar and electronics.The performance, recontextualizes the poetics of these two works into a new sonic meditation experience which intertwines “traces of sacred geometry, collective experience and elusive connections between nature and human kind”. Pilia explores the metaphysical, spiritual, and divine dimensions through number, geometry, and the creation of tonal forms and architectures with properties similar to those archetypal forms that represent the intersection between the abstract realm of mathematics and the real structures of the physical world. He presents a series of “troubled” sonic meditations that encourage active listening and evoke echoes of ancient liturgical and devotional music through a refined intersection of acoustic and electroacoustic processes, drone, and chamber music.
Pilia's music has the timeless air of ritualistic actions and abstracted forms...the nature of his music remains consistent in its elegance of form and clarity of line. Those qualities inevitably generate echoes, whether of Renaissance devotional works or more recent reflective minimalism. Sonic meditations for our troubled time.' The Wire
The Italian composer channels ancient echoes into wistful, introspective melodies, harmonizing with the stillness of impermanence...an eternal, relentless grace permeates each elegiac movement... etches itself into the psyche like intricate shapes carved into glass—delicate, luminous, and on the verge of shattering. It’s breathtaking.’ -Foxy Digitalis
“Stunning, subtly disfigured drone, early music x sacred minimalism from Stefano Pilia, winding electroacoustic instrumentation around poetic sequences... a high-minded approximation of medieval church music that felt genuinely contemporary. He builds on those solid foundations here, considering the relationship between abstract mathematics and tangible physical structures using circular compositions to highlight the connection between ritual forms and more forward-facing mutations... Over the course of 90 minutes he effortlessly signals the evolution of church music as it was absorbed into secular canon, done in a way that’s just jaw-droppingly poetic, filled with hidden references and deliberate ritualistic cogitations in
a way that makes for an album we'll be unpacking for months”. - Boomkat
'In the contemporary music scene, works emerge that transcend pure entertainment and propose themselves as true sensory and spiritual experiences. Lacinia represents a fascinating exploration of this territory, a sonic journey that feeds on ancient traditions and modern metaphysical inspirations...Each note, each sound, becomes part of a great cosmic mosaic...Lacinia is not just a work to be listened to, but an invitation to immerse oneself in a ritual of discovery and introspection’ - Radioaktiv
Stefano Pilia is a guitar player, producer and composer born in Genoa and based in Bologna. His work has become progressively concerned with researching the sculptural properties of sound as well as sound's relationship with space, memory and the suspension of time. Pilia explores these points of focus through instrumental practice and investigations into the recording and production process. He is one of the founding members of the seminal group 3/4BeenEliminated, a project that synthesizes improvisational, electro-acoustic and avant-rock sensibilities. Pilia predominately plays as a soloist though he also collaborates extensively. Since 2010 he has been a member of psychedelic quartet, In Zaire; a focal contributor to the BGA trio, alongside David Grubbs and Andra Beili. Additionally since 2009 Pilia has been a founding member of Il Sogno del Marinaio, a trio including legendary Minutemen bassist Mike Watt. He currently plays in Spiralis Aurea ensembles with guitarist Alessanda Novaga, Adrian Utley (Portishead) and the cellists Guiseppe Franchellucci and Mattia Cipolli. Since 2012 Pilia has been guitarist for celebrated Malian singer Rokia Traorè, of the cult seminal band Massimo Volume (2008-2016)and for the longstanding cult Italian band Afterhours (2015).
Pilia has also collaborated with an impressive range of other artists, truly too numerous to mention. His discography which stands at over forty recordings has been released on a numbere of well established record labels (Die-Schachtel, Maple Death, Improved, Blue Chopsticks, Black Truffle) He has played extensively all over Europe, North America, Africa and Australia.
This will be a special opportunity to hear Pilia's deeply felt music.
We hope you can join us
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Event venue
Harrison House 6881 Mount Lassen Ave., Joshua Tree, CA 92252, United States
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