Julian Sartorius\ Hidden Tracks: ‘Domodossola – Weissmies’

By londonjazz on 27 March 2024 • ( Leave a comment )

Julian Sartorius \Hidden Tracks – Domodossola – Weissmies
(Everest Records. Album review by Tony Dudley-Evans)

Drummer/percussionist Julian Sartorius from Switzerland specialises in solo performances; he has released a number of solo albums, created audiovisual art works and enjoys exploring the sounds of found objects as well as those of percussion instruments and electronics. He also performs in groups, for example with Dan Nicholls on keyboards and Lou Zon on visuals at 2023 JazzFest Berlin.

His latest solo album, Hidden Tracks: Domodossola – Weissmies, Sartorius records his climb from Domodossola in Italy at the height of 272 metres above sea level to Weissmies, a 4017 metre-high mountain in the Valais in Switzerland, and the various rhythms he creates as he goes as well as the surrounding sounds and noises. So we hear at the beginning of the climb the sounds of the village mixed in with the rhythms Sartorius creates by playing with his drumsticks on all the surfaces available. These sounds include traffic sounds including a very loud motorbike, an equally loud dog barking, a church bell and the sounds of a small river or stream. As he climbs, the sounds change, the traffic sounds gradually disappear and the sounds of animals change from dogs barking to sheep bleating, and we hear cowbells and the flow of a river. At the higher levels Sartorius plays on the trunks of trees in the forest he enters, and at the highest level we hear the sound of his footsteps in the snow. At all levels we hear the rhythms created by Sartorius with his drumsticks on surrounding surfaces; these rhythms vary according to the surface.

The music is continuous, but for the purposes of the CD it is divided into 8 tracks going from the first 272 to 500 metres and thereafter in 500 metre stages of the climb up to the final stage which goes from 3500 to 4017 metres.

It is a fascinating album, particularly in the way the percussion sounds are integrated with the noises off. It is also intriguing in that one is constantly trying to work out exactly which surface Sartorius is playing on with his drumsticks.