“Lacinia”is a new and important cycle of compositions by Stefano Pilia, which continues and expands the poetics and compositional ideas that the Genoese composer and guitarist introduced with the previous “Spiralis Aurea”, the double album released by Die Schachtel in 2022.

“Lacinia” (meaning “lace” in Latin) continues Pilia’s exploration of the metaphysical, spiritual, and divine dimensions through number, geometry, and the creation of tonal forms and architectures with properties similar and isomorphic to those archetypal, immutable forms that represent the intersection between the abstract realm of mathematics and the real structures of the physical world.

The result is music that deeply resonates with the works of composers such as Arvo Pärt, LaMonte Young, Pauline Oliveros, Eliane Radigue, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Sarah Davachi amongst the more contemporary composers. The compositions of Lacinia unfold as a series of sonic meditations that encourage active listening and evoke echoes of ancient liturgical and devotional music (Gesualdo da Venosa, Monteverdi, John Dowland) through a refined intersection of acoustic and electroacoustic processes, drone, and chamber music. The literal and the abstract are used to seek a higher order and meaning within a chaotic and uncertain world.

Regarding both the individual tracks and the overall work, the idea behind Lacinia is to define a circular path (a sort of “rhizomatic lace”) where the beginning and end touch, suggesting the concept of time not only as linear but also cyclical and ritualistic—an eternal return, a process of transformation where matter changes, its state changes, but without altering the invisible internal principle of mutation. The energy of transformation is channeled through steps, degrees, and energetic quanta in a progression of archetypal whole numbers and transcendent creation.

Like its predecessor “Spiralis Aurea”, “Lacinia” features compositions for variable ensembles, often performed and recorded in different ways for the album version (string quartet, synths and strings, horns and organ, string orchestra, various electroacoustic instruments, and percussion), and then presented live in different versions and formations (from duo to guitar trio, guitar and cello quartet, electroacoustic versions).