migration cinema is a new moniker of the sonic practitioner and composer el’as merino. grisaille, his release for e/c, adopts a varied approach to the pattern of emergence within merinoÕs work. these seven recordings present not only electronic, but mostly instrumental trajectories, whose densities are unfolded through a huge collection of music performers. migration cinema creates a situation for the musicians in which they navigate a resonant and responsive compositional space, while the space itself is treated as a plastic medium. * grisaille suggests an unconventional view of chamber and instrumental contemporary music from a culture alien in both space and time, heard through the filter or sieve of iannis xenakisÕ architectural and physical approach to sound. alternating between opacity and translucency, monochrome and colour, grisaille conjures a spectral palette reminiscent of fredrich cerha, but with an approach to instrumental hybridisation more reminiscent of the electroacoustic worlds of ana maria avram and iancu dumitrescu. * grisaille was written, recorded, and produced by el’as merino between 2013 and 2016 in spain and england, and includes across its seven tracks more than 24 performers and a student choir. all the instrumentation has been written, scored and orchestrated through computer music methodologies such as algorithmic and generative systems. grisaille swims into hybrid spaces from acoustic reverberations captured by the artist itself at notre dame (paris, france), basilica di sant eustachio, (rome, italy), and eglise st. laurent, (marseilles, france).
