Arutani - Memories of Something New

May 8, 2020 - Laut & Luise

Venezuelan born, Swiss raised, Berlin based Gianni Competiello aka Arutani has found a home for his debut album in the German record label family Laut & Luise. As his biographical blurbs attest, Competiello takes his artist name from the nearly extinct language of the indigenous people of Roraima, Venezuela. Presently there are only nineteen verified speakers of the Arutani language. Linguists speculate that Arutani may be a language isolate, meaning it may have developed on its own without a common ancestor language to link Arutani to any of its neighboring languages. Yet this perceived disconnect often points to a lack of data rather than a history without linguistic commingling or shared parentage.  

The use of this artist name suggests pride in both heritage and what Competiello considers his own unique musical language. Competiello’s bio states that the he “is one of the very few who are able to express themselves completely through music - always including innovative ideas while straying true to his own signature sound.” Whether a clever yet mysterious turn of phrase or a typo, “straying true” rather than “staying true” lures one to interpret.  

Memories of Something New showcases Competiello’s musical vocabulary in a wide range. River language underpins sturdy techno synths and industrial textures as well as soft padded tones. Often making small talk with vocal clips over more elegiac and plodding melodies, Competiello grounds lofty ambiance and elevates the mundane. This numinous flip is the it-factor we’re looking for right now. The blurb on the back covers of most well-regarded poets’ books will confirm this sort of spiritual trundle: bring down the holy, raise up the quotidian. This is what opens the eye of an appraiser.  

Competiello’s efforts and self-image are rooted in the concepts behind the word poet. The parentage of the word comes from the ancient Greek poiein, to make, create, compose and the Sanskrit cinoti, heaping up, piling up. Yoking his ability to make with his ability to gather, Competiello piles up samples and textures. He layers them. Disparate sounds become a natural logic, a mousetrap of noise. A global-citizen's awareness emerges. Sounds of tropics, a paradise of nature props up aggressive synths and indiscernible chit-chat.  

Competiello has built a language for us, not to speak, but to understand. Memories of Something New brings the present into full realization. A memory is also the present experience if a person is aware of the experience as it’s happening. This is the fleeting nature of joy. But that’s not the point, for it is the fleeting nature of anything. In its most basic form, to remember is to conjoin an experience to our ideas about ourselves. To be within the moment is not to be without memories, but to be the mingling of memory, to welcome what is happening now into what has happened. Go listen. ⛰️