“The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between them” – Claude Debussy
“When I open my eyes I must sigh, for what I see is contrary to my religion, and I must despise the world which does not know that music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy” – Ludwig van Beethoven
“In music, silence is more important than sound” – Miles Davis
Deo (xDeo) is one of Australia’s most inspired and original composers, with a vast catalogue of music spanning 12 published albums, and music for film, documentaries and ambients, like public hospitals (Northam, W.A) and city parks. His live performances, in Australia and overseas, have often been centred around music for poetry/spoken word, and solo Classical guitar. Deo collaborated with notable Australian poets, and translated the central part of Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’ (Purgatory) in English, creating a music work performed around the world, since 2009.
Particularly on the Classical guitar, Deo developed an original sound, reflective of an instrument that is deeply intimate, and at the same time so pliable to the touch, as to have a vast vocabulary of moods, rarely explored in classical or contemporary guitar composition.
The essence of the most extraordinary moods that the guitar can elicit, is carried by the actual nature of the sound made on the instrument, more so than a specific musical style or composition.
The search to faithfully reproduce the complexity and nuances of the Classical guitar sound in a recorded form, has taken Deo into an in depth study of sound engineering lasting 20 years. In the last 7 years Deo’s focus has been in Spatial/Surround sound, first with a collaboration with Sony Japan on the testing of their 360 Real Audio format, and subsequently with the adoption of Dolby Atmos as the medium of choice.
Deo first album in Surround format is ‘Fluctum’ – for Classical guitar and small ensemble – to be followed by a series of other albums dedicated to the sea.
“Real communication is not about sharing information in sign or verb – but rather leaving space for the unwritten and unspoken to create bridges, threads, paths between people, nature, elements and the vast universe that makes all that, One”. – Deo
