Album Review: Oval – Ovidono (Edition Dur)

Edition Dur is a series of limited vinyl releases that Sven Hasenjäger and Daniel Meteo are making in collaboration with Kulturkaufhaus Dussmann, available exclusively at the Dussmann store in Berlin.

Ovidono is an auditory art project by Markus Popp (aka Oval) and Vlatka Alec, a fascinating scenario for a new kind of musical storytelling.

Sensual, dazzling and multi-layered, the project – initially code-named “ASMR 2.0” – combines a new interpretation of the epic, timeless poetry of Ovid and Ono No Komachi (performed in Japanese by Eriko Toyoda aka SO) with Oval’s electroacoustic compositions, post-digital soundscapes, and ambitious vocal processing. The complex, whispered vocalizations evoke the tactile, immersive quality and intimacy of ASMR.

Merging the latest version of the complex, hypnotic Oval sound – no stone was left unturned in Markus’s research for this project – with the scintillating, electronically intertwined vocal performances by Vlatka and Eriko creates a sophisticated, intimate dialogue, an experience of a third music waiting to be discovered, a felt entity that effortlessly crosses boundaries of time, language, and technique.

Side 1 – Track 1: Dormant

Ovidono wants to create a place of musical longing, inviting you into a surreal garden of sound, whose hybrid poetry and design language instantly generate their own emotional pull – a lucid, intoxicating deep dive into an emotional limbo, playfully drawing new meanings out of poetry beloved for over a thousand years.

Verdict: Beautiful and haunting pieces, off kilter notes from prepared sounding instruments mainly that of piano, with strings and other strange and wonderful sounds layering the background. It is the combination of the glitch processed vocals, improvisational style classical instrumentation and electronic based sounds that create a rather unsettling melancholy listening experience. Ovidono is a work that stirs the emotions, it has a certain honesty which is free from pretense. An abstract, experimental work of art which is thoroughly absorbing.

Vinyl Track List:

Vinyl available at Kulturkaufhaus.de

Digital avaiable at: Ovidono | Oval (bandcamp.com)