Walter Prati is an Italian cellist, electronics pioneer, composer, and scholar known for his work with the Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble and collaborations with double bass player Barry Guy, guitarist Thurston Moore, and Robert Wyatt.
Unbassable is Prati’s DIY solo project for a 6-string fretless electric bass, whose sound is processed in real-time by MaxMsp and GRM tools and in binaural post-production by Logic Pro software. The album was recorded by Prati at MMT Creative Lab Studio in Milan between May and July 2023, mixed and mastered by Prati between December 2024 and February 2025. Prati also took the cover photo. Prati is the founder and the current president of MMT Creative Lab, which aims to promote experimental and contemporary music.
The electronics-charged 6-string fretless electric bass becomes an almost independent sonic entity, quite unbassale and completely stripped of its conventional, common rhythmic or deep-toned roles. Prati takes this instrument on a personal, experimental, and exploratory journey. He investigated its bubbling, resonating sonorities and its spatial possibilities when transformed by electronics, and sketches mysterious but cinematic, otherworldly or sci-fi textures that are in constant interplay with the live, digital processing tools. The titles of the six pieces may be read as ironic comments on the electric bass’ conventional roles.
Walter Prati – Unbassable (Folderol, 2025)
