Nosesoul - Angel Ghost and Human Shades (2006)
Nosesoul
project is pure improvisation, my sessions have been improvised and directly
mixed with Francesco's voices.
I hope this experience won't leave me trough my next years.
Teo
Zini/Opium
I
found I've a voice inside me but it is not mine. I supported it through my 'nosesoul'
and 'lamentationes' researches.
Some artists, beautiful friends, helped me by
their influences and elaboration and the voice has gone out. So I moved.
Francesco
Paladino
MUSIC
Ambient experimental sounds combining the 'Francesco' voices with
improvisational programming from Opium. Francesco Paladino here provides
vocalisations that range from moans, whines and nasal tones through to various
mutterings and mournings. Teo Zini or Opium surrounds these utterances with
layers of ambient electronic texture and processed 'wave editings'. The
resultant sound is a mysterious organic sound installation that is suggestive of
various dreamstates - jangling bells, buzzing flies, birds, water droplets and
hypnotic drones hang in the aural air - ambiguous, evocative and unsettling.
Titles add to the dreamy mood of the music - 'grasswall painted green', 'me, the
sky sleeping', 'sunrise overflow'.
ARTWORK
Sharp photography focuses on earth hues and textural areas - stacked
rocks on the front cover, a pool in a rocky indentation on the reverse.
Everything is suitably shady with abundant blacks. Within the booklet are
portraits of the artists and a few words from each to present their individual
contributions to the project. Web site addresses are included along with thanks
and kisses.
OVERALL
Morpheus
Music Rewiews
Francesco Paladino, has teamed up with Opium (Paladino seems to prefer the
collaboration, having joined forces with lots of folks in the past including
dronesters Alio Die) for a record of epic and hauntingly cinematic low end
explorations. Field recordings are deftly woven into huge sprawling drones,
strangled falsetto vocals and growling grumbled voices drift ominously amidst
the slowly swirling low end ambience. Chimes tinkle and random bits of
percussion float restlessly above thick fuzzy synthesizers, all the while more
and more strange animalistic vocalisations enter the mix. Birdsong and simple
percussion are the framework of one track, while a pulsing synthesized throb
another, FX swirl effortlessly over the sound of scraping stones, whispering
wind, distant chanting. The vibe is strangely liturgical, one can imagine this
disc as the soundtrack to some slow moving Italian giallo, Goblin handling the
freaked out progged up horror parts, while Paladino and Opium handle the
suspense, the dark shadowy corridors, a long walk through a moonlit park, the
foreboding feeling that death lurks around every corner. Creepy and sinister and
ominously beautiful. (aquariusrecords.org) sso's projects since 1989, under
whose name he has produced several releases and collaborations. This release is
a collaboration between Alio Die and Saffron Wood. He has also produced several
releases under his own name, in various labels, among which Project and Relapse.
The Sleep Of Seeds was released by his own label, Hic Sunt Leones, in
2003.
While I was listening to the CD I had seated myself in a spot where I could see
the buildings and balconies across the street. As summer has sunk its claws on
Athens already, it was a warm sunny day, with a soft, refreshing breeze going
through everything. At some point I noticed a pixie made of silver paper hanging
off a balcony right across my window. As I was watching the miniature fairy
moving according to the will of the wind, I thought this was a very suitable
setting to begin from: a little bit of nature and of magic, off-key in an urban
scenery. A positive, radiant kind of magic however, one with soothing and
relaxing properties, reminiscent of light, sun, charming landscapes and overall
gratification. At least thatšs the effect it had on me.
It sort of fixes itself in the general background and creates a meditative
atmosphere that does not impose on, but rather accompanies your thoughts.
The release comprises of 3 tracks, building upon various layers of electronic
and organic sound, as well as drones and repetitions. The sound is clear and
distinct, feeding the listener with just enough sound information to induce the
desired ambience, but as I said, by no means being intrusive or aggressive
quite the opposite actually. Personally I like it, as I can find certain times
where relaxation and disengagement from the physical environment is necessary,
and I prefer at such times for the music to be more suggestive and discreet. And
this is just that kind of recording.
The first track, "The Sleep Of Seeds", is a down tempo
combination of various natural sounds, what seems to be field recordings and
electronics, harmonic, minimalistic and balanced. It sets the soundscape on
which the next two tracks will develop some more. As opposed to the first track
that is 22 minutes long, the second one, "Awakening In A New Form",
is a brief interpretation of the natural transformation that takes place, the
evolution, the transformation as stated by the title. Musically it is mostly a
game between a flute and what my untrained ear can recognize as a distorted loop,
with secondary layers being built by what sounds like bells, tubes, drones Which
leads us to "A Dream Of Mother Ground", the final track which
lasts about 20 minutes, And in which an elaborate tapestry is presented,
containing almost all the diverse elements we see in the two previous tracks:
various natural sounds and found recordings, bells, drones, electronic sounds
and distortions, flute, loops, accordion and the likes. All these sounds spiral
into a crescendo and then as naturally as they have intensified, disappear one
by one, leaving an echoing, distinct drone and a few electronic ones that mainly
remind one of bird singing, for the recording to end, placing onešs body back
on solid ground, as gently as it had been lifted in the beginning.
Heathen Harvest website by Luminatrix