“A collaboration of deep experience…still offering something fresh.”

-MOJO Magazine, 4/5 review, August 2024

The Same and The Other is a work of art that sits between experimental electronic music and the avant-garde, is the stunning result of a new collaborative project between Italian composer, arranger, and producer Eraldo Bernocchi and British composer and experimental artist, Christopher James Chaplin.

Combining minimal electronic interventions and haunting melodies with slow-moving textures and layered ambient sounds, The Same and The Other is available as a limited edition featuring the powerful and captivating work of artist Petulia Mattioli as a 2LP audiophile 180-gram gatefold vinyl, tri-panel cd, digital download and via all major streaming services.

Having first met at the Extreme Chill Festival in Reykjavík, Iceland in 2019, Bernocchi and Chaplin have been leaders in their chosen fields for many years, but this was the first time they had met in person. Forming an instant bond, the duo were soon exchanging ideas on sound and composition at Bernocchi’s studio in London. “To be honest, we didn't have a specific goal in mind initially. We were simply creating music and sounds through mutual exchange,” adds Bernocchi. “We met several times at my studio, where I decided to limit myself to using only one machine, an Elektron Analog Four MKII. I prefer working within limitations because it focuses creativity. Christopher used a synth and Ableton Live as a sampler and his diverse inputs kept us in a constant state of wonder about the music we were creating.”

With minimal processing, mainly reverbs and some delay, the initial recording sessions were improvised around simple themes and after accumulating a number of tracks, Bernocchi and Chaplin intentionally took a break from the recording process to refresh their perspectives before returning with a more focused approach.

But it was the involvement of visual artist, designer, and photographer Petulia Mattioli who was exhibiting her new art installation The Same and the Other which explored the relationship of the body to time, knowledge, and memory, that the concept of the album began to gradually take shape. Bernocchi had previously worked with Mattioli on numerous art installations over the years providing the audio aspect and although she had no part in the actual recording process of the album, Mattioli’s video projections, artworks, and photo scrolls began to mould and form a huge conceptual part in the musical direction the album would take.

With a combined enthusiasm for creating music and art and exploring the endless possibilities, The Same and The Other is a vessel that has the ability to transport listeners to unknown places, to their personal unexplored realms. Driven purely by their creative instinct from the outset, compositions such as the slow-moving, layered ambient sounds of ‘Oblique’ or dystopian manifestations of ‘Curved’ alternate between presence and absence. Bernocchi and Chaplin seek to bring their melodic ambiental metamorphosis in parallel with Mattioli’s work to produce an expansive soundscape that places the listener in a reflective space.

Elsewhere, the iridescent ‘Foursquare’ alternates between the octaves in a contrast of deep tones and brilliant beaming timbres, while ‘Weaver’ has a completely different genesis, written specifically for the fourth side of the vinyl release. Edits taken from the other album tracks received fresh impetus from the duo and were remixed resulting in a “live” feel to the track.

ABOUT ERALDO BERNOCCHI

Eraldo Bernocchi is an Italian composer, arranger, producer, and guitarist with a solid reputation as an all-round sonic sculptor.

Starting his career in the late 70’s as a guitarist in independent punk bands, in the mid ’80’s he co-founded the conceptual audio project Sigillum-S (with Paolo Bandera and Luca di Giorgio), which grew into a highly acclaimed international cult act.

In the 90’s, together with the graphic designer and video artist Petulia Mattioli, Bernocchi started to create a raft of notable audio-visual projects and co-operations. A relentless sound explorer, he collaborated with numerous artists including Bill Laswell,  Nils Petter Molvaer, Harold Budd , Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Merzbow, Russell Mills, Toshinori Kondo, Raiz and Almamegretta, DJ Disk, Thomas Fehlmann, Zu, DJ Olive, Markus Stockhausen, Giovanni Lindo Ferretti, Robin Guthrie, Colin Edwin, Balazs Pandi, Hoshiko Yamane, Flowdan among many others.

In addition to regular work scoring music for adverts and other multimedia projects, he has composed film music for Academy Award winner Gabriele Salvatores and won the ‘President of the Republic Best Soundtrack’ award for the movie soundtrack ‘Denti’ (2000).

He has produced numerous art installations with Mattioli, as well as other artists including Russell Mills and Harold Budd. Uniquely, Eraldo is also known for being invited to play and organise various special events for H.H. The Dalai Lama in Italy.

In 2008, together with music lover Giacomo Bruzzo, Eraldo founded RareNoise Records, a new London based label, which aims to showcase a wide range of cutting-edge music. The label has since become an important conduit championing several forward thinking and original artists, as well as releasing a number of Eraldo’s own recordings.

In 2018 he scored ‘Cy Dear’, the first ever doc/film on the life of the legendary artist Cy Twombly which has been presented at MOMA New York, Louvre Paris and National Portrait Gallery London. Under this moniker SIMM, he released the critically acclaimed ‘Too late to dream’ (2021) with Grammy winner Flowdan as well as ‘Sabi’ (2023) with Tangerine Dream’s member Hoshiko Yamane.

He’s also well known as a sound programmer and designer for Power FX, Swedish synthesiser brand Elektron, Latvian Erica Synths and Attack magazine.

eraldobernocchi.com

ABOUT CHRISTOPHER JAMES CHAPLIN

Christopher James Chaplin is a British composer and experimental artist, and he has carved a unique path in the avant-garde music scene. With a background in piano studies in Vevey, Switzerland, he later made his way to London during the early 1980s, where he began to explore the boundaries of sound and composition. 

In 2009, he was invited by Michael Martinek and Fabrique Records to work with the artist Kava on ‘Seven Echoes’ (2010) – a concept album released and first presented live at the Art Brut museum gugging in Lower Austria. There he encountered a pioneer of electronic music, Hans-Joachim Roedelius (Cluster, Harmonia), who later invited him to participate in a BBC Radio 3 ‘Late Junction’ live session.

The result of this collaboration led to another album ‘King of Hearts’ (2012). In the following years, Chaplin and Roedelius performed all over the world: mostly improvised performances with Roedelius on piano and electronics and Chaplin on synthesizers and orchestral samples.

In October 2016, Chaplin’s first solo album ‘Je suis le Ténébreux’, featuring Hans Joachim Roedelius, Christine Roedelius, Claudia Schumann, and Judith Chema. In 2018, he released ‘Paradise Lost’ loosely based on John Milton’s poem, and it featured tenor Nathan Vale and a text written and read by artist Leslie Winer. 

In 2020 his third solo album ‘M’ was released, featuring guest artist Finley Quayle, Austrian musician Mira Lu Kovavs and French performer Aurelia Thierree. His most recent release was 2022’s ‘Patriarchs’, consisting of ten tracks based on the ten antediluvian patriarchs: from Adam to Noah.

In addition to his solo studio recordings, Chaplin has continued to perform numerous collaborative and improvised live shows with Hans-Joachim Roedelius and other artists including Andrew Heath, CM  von Haussswolff, Tim Story and the Icelandic electronic music trio Stereo Hypnosis. Based on these live improvisations, the ambient albums ‘Triptych in Blue’ (2017), ‘Bjarmi’ (2018), and ‘Zurufe’ were released.

Tracklisting

1.     ‘Oblique’

2.     ‘Orbicular’

3.     ‘Curved’

4.     ‘Diagonal’

5.     ‘Angular’

6.     ‘Foursquare’

7.     ‘Weaver’ (bonus track)