Stephen Vitiello is an electronic musician and sound artist who creates soundscapes that change audience perceptions of spaces. In an interview with him, he says that he mostly makes work for gallery exhibitions, but it has most recently gone towards public spaces, and his work consists of how he listens to the world. In what is probably his most famous piece, which was conducted during his residency in the World Trade Centre in 1999, he recorded the sounds of the building after a hurricane and played the sound inside the building, so it sounded like a creaky ship moving.
Another piece which encompasses this idea is 'A Bell for Every Minute' which was produced a year later. This is recording 52 of New York City's bells and playing the hit of one every minute, but playing them on top of each other. This creates the initial hitting noise of the bell, then layers upon layers of vibrating and ringing as if you were inside the bells themselves. You can listen to that piece here: http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2013/soundings/artists/13/works/
In terms of his more musical work, on the electronic musician side of him, he works closely with other musicians or sound artists to create albums that overall seem to have a general theme, usually decided by the kind of instruments used. What I gathered about these works is that they are not heavily concept driven through each individual album, but in general Vitiello tries to explore the use of instruments in creating sound, and what sounds you can create with these instruments. I focused in particular on one of the albums 'Between You and the Shapes You Take' which collaborated with musician Molly Berg.
Between You And The Shapes You Take is the second collaborative album by Richmond based musician/sound artists Stephen Vitiello and Molly Berg. As with the duo’s previous release, The Gorilla Variations (12k2013, 2009), tracks are created out of improvisations and sculpted through editing. Molly Berg’s clarinet and vocalizations tend to cover the CD’s lyrical content while Vitiello’s guitar and processing covers a good deal of the textures.http://www.12k.com/index.php/site/releases/between_you_and_the_shapes_you_take/
This album was described on the web page linked above as 'melancholic' in ways, which is why I chose to focus on it. The memories in my project at times will aim to produce melancholy and I can really see what is meant when describing this album. Berg's instrumental sounds in tracks such as 'Recap (with violin)' which features a violin or 'Clarinet Assembly' which features a Clarinet, have long notes which make up a simple improvised melody. Along with Vitiello's textures added, which especially in Clarinet Assembly, created depth in the piece. I found it quite easy to get lost in the sounds of this album, and I can see how it would trigger memories and a sense of melancholy for people.
You can listen to most of his work on Spotify, but you can listen to 'Recap (With Violin)' and 'Clarinet Assembly' below:
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