Lorenzo Senni

Italian producer Lorenzo Senni has radicalised dance music through his largely beatless reinterpretation of trance. Danny Turner discusses his analytical approach to sound

- Danny Turner

As a teen, Lorenzo Senni inhabited the hardcore punk scene. Drums were his choice of instrument, yet the Rimini-based student took a diagnostic approach to rhythmical composition. This developed further at university, where Senni studied the electronic pioneers and became fascinated by dance music culture, notably the nascent trance scene.

Labelling himself a ‘rave voyeur’, Senni became absorbed by trance music’s hedonism. In his desire to capture the genre’s euphoric principles, the producer began experimenting with song structures, resulting in the beatless, staccato-driven Quantum Jelly (2012). His latest album, Scacco Matto, further refines Senni’s deconstructive approach, taking dance music into newly explored territories.

How did you transition from punk to the music you make today?

“It was a gradual thing. In my teenage years I was playing in punk and hardcore bands and the local scene was good. I grew up near Bologna where there’s always been a good scene with a lot of bands coming through, so like many kids I started to practice guitar, play in local bands and at a certain point developed my taste in music by encountering math rock and noise rock. Unfortunately, there weren’t many people around me that wanted to play that kind of music, so I learned drums because I couldn’t find a drummer to join my project.”

In terms of learning drums, you took a more analytical approach?