NOXIA: SOME HISTORY Noxia is not a traditional band. In a certain way it’s a musical and multi-media project, involving different people, who started working together in 2001. In 2001 Alberto Ferraris (Italian musician, producer and arranger), started working on some musical ideas with the clear intention to conjugate words and music in a sort of theatric performance. Soon, some guys were involved in the project: Pietro Bertolini and Paolo Denti, working on words and lyrics, Enrico Ferraris (former guitarist with Italian rock band Viridanse, during the eighties), Mary Loscerbo (Canadian singer living in Italy). The first result of the intensive work is “Corvus ego niger”, a mini-CD included in Paolo Denti’s novels book “Di terra e altre lune”, edited by Lupetti Editions Milano in January 2005. The album contains six tracks: four of them are tunes with different musical influences, from folk to electronic, dub and pop, united to some readings taken from the book. A sort of multimedia narrated by the voice of italian actress Laura Gambarin. The other two tracks called Corvus ego niger (I and II) are two parts of an unusual tune, sung in latin language, inspired to the Gregorian chants with gothic atmospheres and characterized by the use of ancient and ethnic musical instruments. Noxia – Corvus Ego Niger – CD Credits: Vocals on “Corvus Ego Niger pt.1 e 2”: Mary Loscerbo Spoken words: Laura Gambarin Programming, Armonium, Organ, Synth.: Alberto Ferraris Bodhràn, Bouzuki, Mandoloncello: Faondail (from Alessandria) Arranged and mixed by Alberto Ferraris and Enrico Ferraris Produced by NOXIA Soon “Corvus ego niger” becomes a multimedia project, and the ensemble produces some video clips of the songs, so the original idea of a fusion between sound and images becomes reality. This experience has been performed live in some stages in Italy during 2005. During 2006 NOXIA continues working hard to complete the production of a full-length album. During the previous years were recorded and composed several miscellaneous songs and musical ideas. The artistic production made during the first half of 2006, realized by Alberto Ferraris and Enrico Ferraris allowed to concretize the definitive shape of eleven tracks. The final production was a fusion between songs and the “soundtrack of an imaginary film”, a “freaky” work but scrupulously realized, full of exasperated tensions and soft atmospheres. Electronic sounds are combined with ethnic suggestions, rock and pop are mixed in a sound conceived to create images and sensations. On June 2006 the work was completed and mixed, it was titled DORON SOUNDTRACKS, and contains eleven tracks composed by Alberto Ferraris. The artistic production and the mix has been realized by Alberto and Enrico Ferraris. The line-up is: Mary Loscerbo, Paolo “Snowfields” Mattea - lead and backing vocals Simone Gelmini- drums and percussions Pietro Bertolini – spoken words Alberto Ferraris- keyboards, synt, samples, programming, bass and percussions Enrico Ferraris – electric and acoustic guitars Alberto Bardelloni - trumpet Giulio Porta and Luciano Cassulo (Faondail) - bouzuki, mandoloncello and bodhran Additional vocals by Rjslan, Giovanni Ferraris and “Drunken boys of Garda Lake” Lyrics by Mary Loscerbo, Paolo Denti, Pietro Bertolini, Paolo Mattea. Tracklist: 1. Doron 2. Dreamers 3. Stay away from me 4. Don’t wake up 5. A place inside of me 6. Bambino ridente 7. It’s not too late 8. Corvus ego niger 9. My freedom 10. No goodbyes 11. Live your life today SOME ALBERTO FERRARIS “TRIVIA” (taken from NOXIA official web site www.riverbankstudio.com) …the discomfort and routine of group rehearsals makes me feel the need to have a personal studio, where I could experiment sounds and musical arrangements, in order to explore new forms of songs. The composition and the arrangement of some lucky dance songs during the nineties allowed me to start working and writing in my own studio. In 1995 I was involved in the production of the first Scisma CD called “Bombardando Cortina”. About my most important musical influences I can mention Peter Gabriel, for his extraordinary ability to create authentic images with sound and unusual appositions, so the result is always beyond every codified style. I remember a band called XTC, all songs are full of unexpected musical solutions, they have been great songs writers. I was also influenced by bands like Brand X or Area, where the virtuosity is not purely aesthetic. As musical producer I grew up working for Japanese market, producing several Hi-energy songs and it was my first opportunity to have a real dialogue with audience… But my most important experience for my musical background, was the close collaboration with Luciano Beretta, one of the greatest Italian song writers, a man able to play with words, transmitting “poetry” with the form of a song. The sum of all these experiences contributed to create the roots of Doron Soundtracks, a long and difficult journey, made possible by the important contribution of some people with different peculiar attitudes: the technical experience of Enrico Ferraris, guitarist and co-producer of the entire work, the great ability, the humanity of the singer Mary Loscerbo, the unique voice of Paolo Mattea, the blitheness of the of Faondail’s keltic sound, the drumming of the young Simone Gelmini and so on. … the term ”soundtracks” on the title is associated to the images of the booklet inside the CD. The music is a sort of a collection of frames in motion and it has inspired the execution of some video clips. So in a certain way the music becomes a sort of soundtrack of different imaginary movies, nothing else! Doron Soundtracks includes eleven tracks, seemingly different each other. What are the common points that join them? I think that the coherence factor could be the relationship between acoustic sounds (even primordial) and electronic sounds. I have deeply explored a lot of possibility that synths, samplers and any other electronic machine can express. The potentialities are huge, so they are very comfortable tools, but they can generate laziness and chaos. I’m very interested in sampling new sounds, taken from unusual musical instruments, in this work we loved to create samples taken from a broken accordion, a flawed old harmonium, a great number of strange ethnic instruments, percussions and so on. … I’ve found my own way to work on music… in my recording studio I’ve create a space where every external participation can be maximized, a sort of open laboratory where is possible to exchange ideas and experiences in a free creative context. Alberto Ferraris 2006