“My machines are an integral part of how I perform as Dagger Moth,” says Italy’s loop-driven guitarist, composer, and solo artist Sara Ardizzoni. “Even my albums are conceived
“My machines are an integral part of how I perform as Dagger Moth,” says Italy’s loop-driven guitarist, composer, and solo artist Sara Ardizzoni. “Even my albums are conceived around a looper and effects pedals to bring my pieces to life. It’s not an “I-wish-I-could-but-I-can’t” compromise because I don’t have a band. This is a creative choice.”
Ardizzoni is an extremely striking and charismatic presence as a performer, and yet her music is so tenaciously cinematic that it almost makes her fade into the sonic milieu. Her pieces are like visitations to some astral cathedral of human triumphs and foibles—beauty, horror, love, and angst—and all ruled by the sounds of a single guitar. It’s a spellbinding, beguiling, and sometimes terrifying journey, as Ardizzoni taps, slaps, picks, shreds, twists knobs in realtime, and shifts between fuzz and crystalline tones to not only animate her songs, but to also sidestep timbral and thematic redundancies that can make loop-composed music appear repetitive and wearisome.
What guitar and amp combination works best for your live-looping adventures?
I need a good, full, clean sound, because it’s an important starting point for everything else I do. So for the last three years, I’ve been performing with a Fender Classic Player Jazz-master and a Vox AC30CH head and matching cabinet.
I’m also curious about your signal-processing pathways.
When I started Dagger Moth six years ago, I was aware that performing alone meant having to deal with two main issues. On one hand, there were the infinite possibilities of freedom in the creative process. On the other was the need to give myself technical and aesthetic boundaries within which I could wander. I needed a versatile looper, and I went for the Boss RC-50 Loop Station. I was also intrigued by the idea of experimenting with a Korg Mini