Caterina Barbieri, Bendik Giske - At Source
The first collaboration between Caterina Barbieri and Bendik Giske presents a new ambient, neo-classical, and experimental music project. Barbieri is an Italian composer known for her minimalist arrangements that highlight the beauty of electronic currents. Her sound never shies away from the basics of electronic music, opting for analogue waveforms over digital wavetables. Her compositional mastery and use of modular effects shape sounds, making them feel human and mimicking the brain's electrical pulses. Giske, on the other hand, has woven electronics into his acoustic sound. Originally trained as a saxophonist, the Norwegian has used electronics to sculpt a unique sound. Giske uses rhythmic fingering and hypnotic tones to create a physical sound, earning his work critical acclaim across several solo albums.
At Source (2026) shows an unwavering respect for each other's crafts that flows through every detail. With each note or click of Giske's saxophone keys, Barbaria follows with a slew of dubbed-out modulation. For each wildly expressive resonating filtre squelch, Giske complements it with a gritty saxophone drone. This back-and-forth goes on throughout the album. These deeply personal interactions are the backbone of the record as the duo contemplates collaboration. Each progression plays off the others, strengthening the riveting, emotional narrative. The unequivocal humanity felt throughout the record is accentuated through. Haunting effects like cavernous reverbs add zip to the layers of emotion, as in the opening track 'Intuition, Nimbus', where Giske's rhythms are slowly enveloped by resonant synthesised howling. Reverbs swell as laboured drones grow and explode into slow-moving melodic passages. The track reminds me of bellowing winds through the Celtic rainforests of Ireland, full of all the mystery and elegance of Gaelic folk tales.
At Source has a holy, fanciful quality as its combination of electronics and acoustics starts to play havoc with your sense of narrative. The human element integrates more seamlessly into technologically influenced sounds, lending a beautiful, otherworldly quality. While most artists opt for bleepier, bloopier sci-fi aesthetics dragged kicking and screaming into beauty, the duo of Giske and Barbieri convey the same feeling through contemporary finesse. Their style uses modern musical ideas to evoke a sense of the future rather than being on-the-nose about everything. in doing so
The saxophone conjures images of jazzy creatures laying down sick solos in the middle of the forest. At the same time, the electronic polyrhythms and arpeggios evoke a sense of real magic. The whole thing comes across as a medieval myth at times while being firmly grounded in the scientific future of electronic music. Think of stories like the Pied Piper or Disney adjacent properties, and then music and magic.
Going from the elated highs of 'Alignment, Orbits' and right into 'Impatience, Magma' is a perfect example of this duality. Both convey genuine mystical qualities, but the former is much more of a call to action, with pulsing tones and silky rhythms that excite. At the same time, the latter brings a much more subdued, foggy vibe. It's the distance melancholic playing that inevitably draws closer before the rhythmic switch about halfway through. This progression could be the best part of the record. The effortless shift from a jazzy malaise into a much more deliberate and powerful eighth note march, dusted with shimmering delays and topped off with an intensely Moody saxophone improv. The final track on the album takes things in a much more sombre direction with the duo utilising acceptably wet effects to draw out increasingly longer notes. That perfectly fades into nothingness, leaving you with a palatable sense of both completeness and sadness at the adventure being over.
At Source presents itself as an experimental electronic album with rather esoteric structures and a reliance on patience, but in reality, it doesn't feel like that. It's remarkably accessible for something so antithetical to most forms of electronic music and jazz-slash-classical music. It's melodically rich, densely textured, rhythmically interesting, and emotionally nuanced for a full-track outing. If we're being honest, this is to be expected from the melding of these two artists, but you never can tell if it's going to work out the way you'd expect. On this occasion, it has exceeded my expectations, as it quickly became one of my favourite records from the first listen. As mentioned, there are so many qualities to the record that make it ideal for several situations. Because the duo doesn't dwell on any single idea for too long, you are left largely wanting more, either in the form of the more slow-paced, methodical sections that lend themselves.
Label: light-years (2026)
Caterina Barbieri, Bendik Giske - At Source
