An inspired release from a multi-talented Italian musician, evoking the timbre of various diverse genres.
The musician behind this album is Gianluca Zannone, whom we last wrote about on these pages a couple of years ago when he played drums in The Black Garden Circus. While developing his musical talents, he began using other instruments than just the drums and became a multi-instrumentalist. And his creative output led to this album, where he employs instruments like kalimba, theremin, guitars, NoiseBox, Synth, drums, and percussion, and is joined on bass guitar by Ivan Franzini. The result is a multi-colored musical canvas that evokes memories of great artists from the 70s and onwards.
We meet this musical feat with the initiative track “Auster”. The melodic chords of the kalimba open the track with fast paced rhythm. The bass and drums create a steadfast rhythm before a chanting voice, a bit discordant, floats through the Jazz-Fusion induced music. If you know your bands of that particular style and Progressive Rock bands from the mid-70s, you will through this album hear strong whiffs of Gong from the Shamal-period all through the Pierre Moerlen´s Gong period. When the track dives into a part of complex sound effects swirling above the bass, the music also sees a touch of Gong´s and Hawkwind´s early ventures into Space Rock. After this detour, the music returns to the rhythmic mode from the beginning, when the kalimba sounds give a melodious theme as the chanting is repeated. The vibrant music fades away into turmoil.
This imaginative, multi-layered way of creating the musical atmosphere continues, and you tap your feet with the Jazz-induced rhythm that often lays the groundwork. On “Insonnia”, the rhythm section is quite heavy as a sound similar to a saxophone emerges in the sonics filled with light melodic sounds from synthesizers, heaving and sinking between the rhythmic music. It is a very engaging piece of music, with a pronounced bass leading onward until it simmers down and unfolds a new soundscape where angelic chanting emerges upon discordances until a drum begins to hammer and a lot of indistinct voices are heard contrasting the angelic chanting and sounds of a disharmonious metallic repetitive kalimba.
The vibrant music continues throughout the album, inspired and vigorous. There is even a hefty 90-second drum solo track, “Movimento”, showcasing the musician´s inventive skills behind the kit. The drumsticks fly all over, while a steady rhythm is held, a bit as with many Jazz tracks. The song “Eco” is an up to date Ambient track without rhythm where the sounds fly and swirl upon a deep pulsating base of sounds. Composing such an expansive, vast ambience shows the width of artistic creativity.
The use of the kalimba, sometimes sounding like a xylophone, is very effective on this album, together with the other instruments. Even when used in a repetitive pattern, it brings melodic themes and melts the Jazz-Fusion timbre with Progressive Rock, like on “Carioca” where the bass eventually takes the lead with a melodic theme. It is hefty and strong as the rhythm flies forward, immersed in layered sounds with sonic swirls.
On the last song, ”Olzon”, the soundscapes close in on Post-Rock when repeating guitar sounds appear and begin to slide in different directions, forming a melody before the music surges. It becomes a crescendo-like swell with high soaring guitars and swirling sound effects upon a throbbing rhtythm section. It soars and sweeps along a melodic pattern, driven by the sturdy rhythm section until it fades away.
The album opened with a sense of Jazz-Fusion and Progressive Rock, took a detour into Ambient music and ended with a sense of Post_Rock. Inspired by multiple genres, Gianluca Zannone is an example for the current undercurrents within underground music, where there’s an abundance of talented people creating songs and records for their own sake. That is something to really appreciate in our day and age.
