Donato Dozzy:worlds between the waves with PolyBrute 12
With a career spanning four decades and a discography steeped in masterful cross-genre experimentation, Donato Dozzy is a renaissance man of the sonic arts. His name has become synonymous with deeply entraining, ambient techno and a musical lexicon channeling ancient formulas of syncopation and polyrhythm that draw you into a vortical embrace. With an oeuvre that evades clear categorisation and an aesthetic approach that is ever-evolving, Donato merges his Italian heritage with a transcultural sensibility for all-night ritual into immersive and enigmatic sonic journeys.
We traveled to the source of Donato’s sonic inspiration and gained unique insight into his outlook, philosophy and creative process; a scenic coastal idyll along Italy’s Ulysses Riviera imbued with myth, legend and a pace-of-life that is the fuel for artistic focus. Here, we were introduced to the PolyBrute 12, an “analog new beast” that is the perfect ally for an arpeggio-artisan like Donato, and an instrument that will inform his compositions for years to come.
From panoramic to panorama
Born to a musically inclined family, Donato began studying piano from an early age. This exposure to music coincided with his family’s acquisition of a residence in the coastal town of San Felice Circeo, which, nestled between mountain and sea, became the place where Donato would spend many of his summers, gradually imbibing its mythic essence and ecology.
Donato’s passion grew as he began experimenting with DJing at age 15, moving through influences from Simple Minds and Prince to Italo-disco and dub reggae, eventually embracing techno and acid house by the late 80’s. He had also begun to capture his own sounds after receiving a recorder from his parents. While at the time a form of adolescent play, this lay the ground for a dedicated approach to sound design that would later incorporate field recordings from various walks of life.
After finishing school in 1989, Donato was drawn to Rome's vibrant club scene and those that upheld it, including Pietro Micioni. Eager to learn from a local master, Donato connected with Micioni through a mutual friend. This led to an opportunity to become his support DJ at the Nautilus club and marked Donato's official entry into professional DJing. At the same time, he was introduced to Micioni's Gimmick Studio and the world of music production, learning the fundamentals of sound design and manipulation. His own production career would begin later in the early 2000’s, following his role as producer for the electro band Kitchentools.
I got very much into the analog stuff when there was a digital revolution, so I didn't want to be, of course, outside of the game, so I learned something about digital production, but most of all, I was into synthesizers.
These formative experiences laid the ground for Donato’s prolific career as a DJ and sound explorer, blending the mythic tales and undulating oceans of the Ulysses’ Riviera with an emergent and boundary-pushing underground aesthetic of the late 90’s. This fused with definitive performance and production experiences across Berlin and Japan that allowed Donato to hone and sculpt his distinctive, atmospheric and meticulously executed sound, including residency at Berghain’s Panorama Bar and highly lauded sets at the beloved Labyrinth festival. A sound that would go-on to reshape ambient techno and inspire the broad exploration of his craft across different music styles and projects.
I would say I never go into the studio without an intention. There is always a need to have an idea first.
A career driven by curiosity
Donato's artistic evolution includes a series of critically acclaimed releases that have cemented his place as a venerated talent in electronic music. A talent that carries a rare and extraordinary sensibility which can only arise out of a career spanning entire epochs of musical evolution, from 70’s prog-rock to experimental IDM and the techno avant-garde.
But it is not just time that is on his side. Donato’s artistic achievement is also defined and driven by a profound curiosity, attention-to-detail and openness to follow his heart. The result is a creative authenticity immune to the influence of external trends and an intentionality that approaches each new project completely afresh. Therefore, like the arc of Donato’s immersive masterpieces, his career is ever-evolving and subject to unexpected turns.
Following the release of his first solo album “K” in 2010, Donato teamed up with long-time collaborator Neel to form Voices from the Lake, a project that would become somewhat of a landmark in the evolution of minimal hypnotic techno. The self-titled album "Voices from the Lake" was released in 2012, bringing together a refined formula of elliptical drum patterns and immersive atmospheres that gently pulse and weave - in such a way that each track is subsumed into a 70-minute ethereal ascent.
Donato would build on this exploration of introspective soundscapes with the release of "Plays Bee Mask" in 2013. As a reinterpretation of Bee Mask's Vaporware, this project saw him deconstructing and reassembling the original material into seven distinct tracks, each one a journey through cascading melodic sequences and flickering auras.
While his solo work is worth privileging in this piece, Donato has also engaged in a variety of collaborative projects, including with vocalist Eva Geist in 2020 to form Il Quadro di Troisi. Their self-titled album may seem like a departure from Donato’s afterhours techno serenity, but it is far from a departure from his musical heartland, merging electro-style synth-pop with Eva’s rich and euphonious vocal work.
Drawing inspiration from the late Italian actor and director Massimo Troisi, the album is imbued with Donato’s seamless production style and approach, evoking complementary feelings of bliss, nostalgia and melancholy. An approach he will be similarly applying to an upcoming collaboration with Basques vocalist Verde Prato, which we look forward to seeing the result of.
About collaboration, I like the fact that you get to meet someone and you exchange points of view and you mix the creative process, which is something very delicate and passionate and intimate at the same time.
His most recent album Magda was released in 2024. Created as a homage to his beloved Aunt and inspired by the artwork of his sister which became the album cover, “Magda is Dozzy’s richest and most complete full-length statement in some time”. It encapsulates his ability to forge, out of some primordial substance, deeply atmospheric and engaging works that invite listeners ever-further into their orbital progressions. Composed on the shores of his Italian idyll, like many of his most personal releases, we are reminded of the natural pace of things. A sentiment that is encoded in Magda’s patient and unobtrusive use of rhythm and interflowing sequences.
While Donato displays a continuity of style he also evades definition, arriving at unexpected outcomes that not only highlight his technical mastery but also enrich his sonic oeuvre with sounds that will leave an indelible mark on the fabric of electronic music and composition.
Capturing the ocean
We accompanied Donato to one of his favorite secluded coves along the San Felice Circeo coastline, a semi-tropical meeting of land and sea that was irradiated by a late-summer sun. Armed with a trusty Zoom recorder, Donato proceeded to capture the lapping and rippling sounds of the ocean, a rhythmic crashing of waves that at once subdues and stimulates the mind.
This is a place where you learn to observe things and listen carefully to the nature that surrounds you.
Field recordings are one of the few key elements that make up Donato's sonic palette, serving both as creative inspiration and providing textural substance. By layering elemental sounds of nature into his productions, Donato is able to buttress their synthetic qualities with natural acoustics and subtly imbue a sense of place. These additions can also be interpreted as honorary signifiers of the beauty and organic rhythmicity that Donato’s music powerfully evokes.
The surroundings have an incredible power. The trees, the nature, everything that surrounds us has power and energy.
After this, we headed back to the studio to work with the recordings, with the ocean still in full view from the window. While not mentioned in the film, Donato used PolyBrute to overlay the recording with a warm, rich and intervallic pad sound. He also applied some tremolo to the pad release and built the composition in a way that reflected wave-like motion - resulting in a slow-moving duet between synth and sea. After this, we got set-up to explore some of PolyBrute 12’s other capabilities, allowing Donato to express his affinity with arpeggios.
“I don't stick to unique genre or type of electronic music. I tend to explore all of the possibilities of what music has to offer. Every little step feed the next one, this is the way I feel it. I need to produce different type of things, otherwise it would be just boring to me.”
PolyBrute 12: analog new beast
In the studio, we are introduced to PolyBrute 12, Arturia’s flagship 12-voice polysynth with a groundbreaking FullTouch keybed that brings human touch and analog synthesis closer than ever before.
As an aficionado of old analog gear, Donato appreciates the sonic power of PolyBrute’s oscillators and filters, as well as the digital controls and effects - which opens up endless possibilities for sonic experimentation.
So it has the analog power on one hand, but on the other hand you can manipulate the sounds literally in a million ways.
The FullTouch keyboard is one of PolyBrute 12’s definitive features, and presents for the first-time MPE expressivity on an analog synth in a way that is familiar and concordant with traditional playing styles. This gives the option for regular synth-style playing while at the same time opening up a new paradigm for responsive, acoustic-like musical expression.
The FullTouch capability is exemplified by Donato. He presents both the sensitivity of the keyboard, where the note is triggered at the very top of a keypress, as well as the dynamic and tactile influence you can have on a sound - with the full vertical range of a key corresponding to an aftertouch signal or envelope gate control. This means you can conduct an entire ensemble of parameters with every keystroke, and conjure up unrepeatable, multilayered and evolving sounds that breathe and move in accordance with the grace or aggression of your play, and everything in between. All without a need to ever touch a knob.
Donato has a profound sensibility for the use of arpeggios, sequences and revolving melodic patterns in his music. Which, inspired by both ancient musical motifs and the likes of Terry Riley and Steve Reich, are a key component of its spellbinding effect. In this regard, PolyBrute is a perfect creative match - able to produce intense and dynamic sequences as well as record evolving parameter motions. It is therefore a true ally for a hypnotic-techno-hierophant like Donato, allowing him to create entrancing, pared-back fractal melodies and apply dynamic modulation to create both a sense of drive and a feeling of constant transformation and flux.
Interacting with it, you just don't feel it's an analog old beast. You feel it's an analog new beast, which is really well fitting to the current times.
"You have to go with the feeling and really catch the moment, because this is not going to repeat the same way a second time.”
Making a track
In the studio, Donato adheres to his minimalist approach. With the PolyBrute 12 linked to an acidlab miami drum machine and programmed using the in-built arpeggiator, we are reminded that less is often more. He utilizes a deep sequenced bassline with a transposed oscillator over the top providing an electrical-sounding overtone, and the impression of technoid call and response. The result is a swelling, surging and fluctuating bass-lead that is gradually altered with the master cutoff and driven with an 808-style kick, hat and snare combination provided by the miami. Through this simple yet effective setup, Donato reaffirms his sensibility for sonic subtlety, focusing on a few key elements to bring his ideas to life with PolyBrute 12 as a driving force.
It's the way I know how to make it. I'm not sure I know different ways. It just comes from the heart, very spontaneously.
Continuing a legacy
Rooted in the mythic lands of San Felice Circeo, where the enchantress Circe once wove her spells, Donato continues to develop his sound. In an ongoing journey of discovery, his work represents a unique embodiment of the spirit of Circe. Not as a figure of peril, but as a muse of transformation and spiritual guidance, where elemental forces become immersive sonic tales that invite us to pay attention and become changed by their mesmeric depths.
As a vector for Donato’s creativity and inventive use of arpeggio, the powers of PolyBrute lend themselves perfectly to his intentional and open-ended production style, whether for textural techno innovation or emotive film score composition. It is a go-to synth for expressive, rich and multi-layered sounds that we hope will support Donato’s artistic odyssey in new and interesting ways, as he continues to craft worlds between the waves.
I think it's life itself that brought me to this, all my past relationships, friends, people that came and left from my life. Everyone and everything left a stone inside of me. And that has been shaping also my sensitivity towards music. I think producing music is like telling a story, and this is my own story.
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