Berlin-based Italian composer Caterina Barbieri writes polyphonic, polyrhythmic music for a variety of analog synthesizers. Minimalist in arrangement, her compositions are highly vibrant and luminous, twisting patterns of radiant tones into complex yet accessible soundscapes reflecting on time and space. She has performed at several experimental music festivals and received major acclaim for recordings such as 2017's Patterns of Consciousness.
Barbieri studied classical guitar and electro-acoustic music at the conservatory in Bologna, and began composing music for the Buchla 200 modular synthesizer at the Elektronmusikstudion in Stockholm, Sweden in 2013. She recorded her debut album, Vertical, at this studio as well as the Royal University of Music (also located in Stockholm). Drawing lines between minimal techno and drone, Vertical was issued on cassette by Important Records' Cassauna imprint in 2014. Barbieri has since performed at numerous experimental music festivals and venues throughout the world, including Berlin's Atonal festival, where she premiered Upper Glossa, a collaboration with Kali Malone, in 2016. Barbieri's second full-length, Patterns of Consciousness, was released by Important in 2017, and was acclaimed by publications such as FACT, Resident Advisor, and The Wire. During the same year, Barbieri and Carlo Maria released Remote Sensing, an EP of stripped-down compositions created using the Roland TB303 and TR606, under the name Punctum. Two Barbieri LPs were simultaneously released in 2018: solo album Born Again in the Voltage and a split with anonymous drone artist Eleh. Ecstatic Computation was released by Editions Mego in 2019.
