ATØMIA is the second installment of EPs in a trilogy composed by musician and producer ATŌMI, alias Lorenzo Setti.
He debuted in 2020 with his first concept EP, ARMØNIA, published by the Tokyo-based label, Jikken Records and republished by ATME Records in 2024. Through the first work, he defines the objective of the trilogy as a journey through resonant frequencies, symbolism of different cultures, philosophies and ancient scripts.
The second step of this series will be published by Berlin-based new born lichen label ATME Records and it’s based on the following concept:
What fascinates ATŌMI the most is the barely perceptible thread that connects the upheavals within the Sun caused by the nuclear reactions with the human act of cyclically destroying its knowledge acquired over the centuries. The act of burning scripts compared to flares and sunspots finds peculiar common points in catharsis, violence and renewal.
The question that arises is: how much these acts are just “human errors” that keep repeating and how much instead they reflect the alchemical act of purification, which lays the foundations for a new path to follow for all humanity?
An artistic research focused on the connections between the macrosystems of the Universe and the microsystems of human society.
ATŌMI’s starting point for this project began with an examination of all the historical transcriptions of events related to libraries, manuscripts or cultural centers burned and proceeded with the research on publication such as: “Shifting Pattern of Extraordinary Economic and Social Events in Relation to the Solar Cycle” by Gorbanev Mikhail.
Given that human history is written by who actually won and most of the time overpower someone else, and given that the first transcribed arson dates back more than 2000 years b.c. surely have made the finding of faithful sources that could support the research even harder, veering the project toward a metaphorical representation of the vast significance of this research and profoundly influenced the sounds chosen to compose the five tracks.
These events have been subsequently translated, through the artist’s sensitivity, into five tracks, which take their names from five symbolic arson events: Thebes 1358 b.c., Alexandria 642 b.c., Baghdad 1258 a.d., Yucatan 1562 a.d. and Berlin 1933 a.d.
The sound and origins of the EP
ATØMIA was composed in 2018 right after ATŌMI’s debut Ep.
It embodies the research on transient saturation and the all-analog approach that characterized ATŌMI’s early productions at that time.
The Ep was composed primarily using Dave Smith Inst. Tetra, Nord Drum 2 with an analog efx chain in a live jam approach. By sequencing the instruments in real time and converging and then summing each signal in a single mixer, ATŌMI achieved the desired saturated, rounded, visceral sound.
But the really interesting part came when he decided to add a „no input mixing“ approach that ran in parallel and added even more warmth and intensity to the transients by going to ad hoc distortions that made percussive parts melodic parts and vice versa.
A characteristic sound that can be heard clearly in tracks such as: Baghdad1258 and Berlin1933.
Although in sound this EP may diverge from the last released album „Little Floating Oracles,“ it should be regarded as a key step in the EP trilogy, bringing a more saturated, analog and beat-oriented flavor to ATŌMI’s musical aesthetic, to warm up the listener in anticipation of the third and final EP.
The audio-visual collaboration with Geso
For this release ATŌMI teamed up with the Berlin based-Madrid born 3D and visual artist GESO.
The already well defined concept behind ATØMIA brought GESO to investigate the timeless meaning of art, with the aim to bringing into life five pieces of art that can be perceived as contemporary and at the same time linked to the past, history and cultures already present within the project’s concept.
The combination of audio and digital/physical representation will be performed through the medium of an installation, and not as a live show.
A new output format after the well acclaimed AV show of the latest two releases and nomination as one of the best AV performances of 2021 by ADAF Greece for ARMØNIA Live show.
Also known as Pablo IA, GESO output focuses on digital art, visual music, site specific installations and art direction. His approach on art revolves on the perception of light and its physicality, the paradoxes defining our knowledge of reality, freedom and self-being and the perfection hidden within errors and glitches.
GESO continues saying: “As a visual artist I experimented with all kinds of techniques, from analog to digital. In the last few years I focused on 3D tools such as: Cinema 4D, Octane Render. In my CGI artworks convey all the knowledge based on design, photography, light design and animation, I developed during my career. The act of creation is a slow mental and intuitive process of singling out the details that define the artwork before it’s even created.”
BIOGRAPHY
The Berlin-based Italian music producer and sound artist Lorenzo Setti, founder of the lichen label ATME records, under the moniker ATŌMI has been described as „spellbinding“ by Foxy Digitalis and “one of the most original of his generation” by Nicchia Elettronica; his practice converges elements of immersive installation art, spatial sound design and interactive A/V performance.
His sound touches a wide range of electronic music genres, such as ambient-techno, mystic minimalism and cinematic with hints of contemporary classical music.
For the Canadian publication MEFD, ATŌMI “does nothing like the others”.
Setti has performed as a drummer in Europe and the United States with musicians such as: David August opening acts for projects such as: Richie Ramone, Man Lifting Banners, Tre Allegri Ragazzi Morti and David Toop as well as having participated in theater shows such as: “Warten Auf Godot” directed by Ulrich Rasche and “Buffalo Gals, won’t you come out tonight” directed by Silvia Costa, music by Andrea Belfi / Wojtek Blecharz or having recorded in the studio for Soundwalk Collective.
ATŌMI debut album’s AV live show has been nominated as one of the best 2021 performances by ADAF Greece.
His albums: Little Floating Oracles (Lady Blunt Records, 2022) and ARMØNIA (Jikken Records, 2020) have been well acclaimed by critics. He has also been featured on VA compilations and collaborative releases such as: Creatures 4 (White Forest Records, 2023), Sounds of Solidarity, CLOSE/STARE (Oigovisiones Label, 2022) and WE by Laura Masotto (7K!, 2021).
He has exhibit and performed in different festivals and venues, notably Ars Elettronica Garden NY, MMMAD Festival Urbano de Arte Digital de Madrid, Audra Festival, Schauspielhaus Bochum, Radialsystem, Venice Climate Change Pavilion, Lightbox NYC – Creative Code Festival, Graphic Days Torino – Seeyousound.
ATME Records
ATME represents the act of breathing, and through it, welcoming within oneself the outside-unknown.
ATME is the act of contaminating and being contaminated, cross-pollination, transdisciplinarity.
ATME Records is not just a record label, it is a process of parsimonious curation and research that aims to question the contemporary art industry, its environmental and social sustainability-impact, and the directions of its development.
The lichen label was born from the need of the Berlin-based Italian born music producer and sound artist Lorenzo Setti (ATŌMI) to cross the barriers imposed by the music industry to, once again, point the public’s attention to what is the channeling of creativity in its broadest forms of expression.
Through ATME, ATŌMI brings everything back to a human, direct, „artist-supporter“ level, having the ability to decide the timing and modalities for each of the transdisciplinary releases; an act of care that takes place through curating the aesthetics of the publications down to the smallest details, as well as in the production and post-production process of music, images, and ecological and boutique physical formats.
The label thus becomes a channel of connection, a community, which has as its source the collaboration between ATŌMI and a wide variety of artists, a transdisciplinary and multimedia approach that has always characterized his work and enriched his forms and nuances, and as its mouth all the intricate social ramifications that flow into the ocean of a community.
