Ava Rasti is an Iranian-born artist, creating and composing out of the country’s capital Tehran. Both a pianist and bass guitarist, in her late teens Rasti founded the post- punk girl group ‘The Finches’. However, since 2020 she has worked solo, experimenting on the interface between ambient, modern classical and drone. Rasti’s interest in storytelling led her to soundtrack the movie, “Double Life”. In 2023, following a series of sonically evolving singles, she self-released the long-players, “Ginestra” and “The Living Room”. FatCat Records’ 130701 post-classical imprint has signed Rasti’s latest set, named “The River”.

The concept and music for the album were initiated when Rasti participated in the Fabrica artistic residency, held in Treviso, in northern Italy. In time away from her studies Rasti would visit the nearby Piave River with friends. Finding moments of peace, and clarity in these picturesque surroundings. Only later did she discover The Piave’s history. The river was the site of two important battles during the Napoleonic and First World Wars. While both were key strategic victories for the Italian military, learning the river the title of “Flume Sacro alla Patria (Sacred River Of The Homeland)”, it was also witness to horrific losses of life. The juxtaposition of the present - Rasti and her friends at play - and the banks’ blood-soaked past, profoundly affected the musician and inspired the ideas behind the LP.

The album is concerned not only with how a location can hold, and hide, such contrasting memories, but also with the notions of memory and nostalgia. How personal perspective and time turn us all into unreliable narrators. Asking what is fantasy, what is true recollection, and exploring how stories alter with each retelling until reality is lost. How perception is in flux since we and our environment are constantly changing. Rasti paraphrases the Greek philosopher Heraclitus when she explains, “We never step in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and we are not the same human being.” Rasti and her friends swimming in The Piave, becoming just one small part of the river’s intricate intertwining legacy.

Rasti also found herself looking back to her childhood, and days spent with her father. Uncertain about actual and idealised events. To illustrate her thoughts and theories Rasti took small sequences from famous classical pieces, and replayed and replayed these tiny fragments, until they became unrecognisable from their source. The music’s repeating melodies mimicking our failed attempts to accurately recall those faded memories.