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Lorenzo Montanà — Decorar Silenzio
(Projekt No #, 2023, DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2023-02-18

Decorar Silenzio Cover art

Wafting in through the window like a gentle gust of warm air, the spirited and mystical nature of Italian sound sculptor Lorenzo Montanà’s latest creation (which translates roughly to Decorating the Silence) is at once a captivating and enigmatic dreamworld that crosses the divide between ambient texture and pure sonic beauty. Far more than a simple floating backdrop of featureless electronics, Decorar Silenzio has a magical character that offers timeless sounds in cavernous splendor, full of emotion and rich undercurrents that will sweep the listener away to heady and shimmering worlds of fluid imagination. The fourteen-plus minute epic “Celesti” is a powerful and exemplary piece of what’s on offer here. Breathing in and out as it evolves slowly over its duration, with glistening fragments of eastern instrumentation and odd dreamlike portals opening and closing as the listener proceeds down its spiral path, it is a trove of muted environmental color bathed in starlight that beckons a listener to reach deep within its subtle echoing spaces. Most of the pieces don’t reach such epic lengths, like “Primaombra,” the album’s shortest piece, which is essentially a vignette that joins the longer pieces surrounding it. The sounds Montanà uses on most pieces evolve from multiple layers of synthesizers, informed by gentle touches of non-Western instrumentation, zither, santoor, bells, sometimes percussives, but avoiding any steady cadence, instead bubbling through in a natural spiritual order with a cosmic semblance. The best example of this would be on the closer “Sentiero,” where slow percussion and synths stretch out infinitely while a soft soaring electric guitar glides overhead. The soft mallet introduction to “Soffuso” evolves quickly with veils of magical bells ignite the listener’s imagination, truly one of the more beautiful pieces among the eight. Much like his earlier ambient works and his collaborations with Alio Die, Montanà has struck a shimmering chord of gossamer beauty with Decorar Silenzio, a captivating soundworld that a listener can get lost within.

Filed under: New releases, 2023 releases

Related artist(s): Lorenzo Montanà

More info
http://projektrecords.bandcamp.com/album/decorar-silenzio

 

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