Leonardo Barbadoro breaks boundaries with ‘Hybr Spiro’

Leonardo Barbadoro, formerly known by his former electronic alias, Koolmorf Widesen, is a multi-talented Italian artist with a background in music, composition, engineering, and production. Based in Florence, he recently released, ‘Hybr Spiro,’ on October 20th 2023, through Helical Records. This track serves as the second release, following ‘Bomi,’ from his highly anticipated album, Musica Automata, an LP featuring orchestral music entirely performed by robotic on real instruments. The original project and concept, initiated a few years ago, garnered significant mainstream recognition from publications such as Red Bull, Vice, RaiNews, and CNN Indonesia. ‘Hybr Spiro’ has already premiered and received support from notable tastemaker CLASH.

Programmed by Leonardo and performed entirely by robots playing real instruments, ‘Hybr Spiro‘ commences with a percussion-driven flourish, featuring a diverse array of both traditional and unconventional instruments that craft a captivating tapestry of delightfully off-kilter polyrhythms. Beautifully unpredictable, this track places a pronounced emphasis on percussion, introducing a simple, slow four-to-five-note motif courtesy of the Hybr, an organ capable of immense tonal variation. As harmonic textures are layered, theres also a clarinet providing a microtonal counter-melody. Overall, the track offers a captivating auditory spectacle, enhanced by its accompanying video, providing an exciting glimpse into the forthcoming experience of his LP Musica Automata.

Lorenzo from Helical Records commented: “The percussion element – sometimes organic, sometimes peremptory, and mechanical – is a meticulously honed mechanism, which, before guiding the direction of a piece, embraces and counterpoints the harmonic section, infusing it with an unpredictable flow, in constant revolution, though rigorous and necessary in every beat. The percussive mosaic on many occasions follows polyrhythmic tracks, expanding the relationship with the harmonic levels in a space where the variation in forms and directions is the governing principle”.