Published by Davide Pappalardo on September 14, 2016
Gianluca Becuzzi is no newcomer in the world of experimental electroacoustic music, and in the world of experimental music in a wide sense. The Italian musician, composer, sound artist and thinker, has been active in the field of music for more than thirty years, both with his solo works and his collaborations with names like Limbo, Metaform, Kinetix, and so on; never one to live in the past, he moves in the realm of possibilities offered by the (non)genre, using the tropes of electronic and acoustic music, experimental production, field recordings, abstract music and noise without any academic reverence, but at the same time with a knowledge of the cultural and sonic side of music shown in his various essays and articles for zines like Frastuoni.
Faraway from light is his last work, licensed by Swiss labels Luce Sia and Show Me Your Wounds Production, composed in 2013 using recordings-on-the-field taken in Berlin Teufelsberg (Devil Mountain) towers. An ambient work that shies away from the easy tropes of the (current state of the) genre, a study on spaces and sounds made without forgetting the original purpose of the work: crafting a non conventional sonic experience which is, at the same time, research and music, even if not in a pop connotation.
Three tracks, two serving as a sort of of intro and outro, and one longer than thirty minutes, the core of the composition: starting from the tracklist, we understand this is not a “fast food” album to be listened without much thought as background music, but a coherent and well thought work, requiring an active listening experience to be fully understood and appreciated.
We start with Evil throughout history [a] and its dramatic tension developed by mantra-like strings and droning loops, an atmospheric composition where field recordings and acoustic elements are merged in a powerful but controlled crescendo; the art of restrain and release is well known by the musician, who never indulges in any cheap outburst, keeping the fine line between somber classical elements and creepy, concrete sounds.
The addiction is the main piece of the work, already used as a music accompaniment for a live screening of Abel Ferrara‘s film Solo il mio nero; it grows out from an eerie starting effect, a spacey crescendo that envelops us in sonic darkness evoking solitary places. Then, rattles are added in an ancestral mantra where less is more, while shrilling strings find their place in a crawling movement: once again the elements of electroacoustic and ambient “industrial tinged” are used without any forced structure, giving us an experimental, but at the same time very listenable and well composed piece, where the apt adding of elements at the right time develops a concrete-like suite made of dissonances and a somewhat ancestral soundscape. The very long tracks dive even in a more drone-oriented direction, keeping its course toward a more minimal “musique concrète inspired” mid section where ghostly sounds dominate the scene until and implosion made of cutting noises with a factory-like quality. Then we have a hellish swirling crescendo resembling an orchestra of industrial machinery, which once again shows the ability of the artist in avoiding cacophony while using “the ugly side” of sounds to craft a majestic composition; the droning loop is stable until the end, where the rattles are conjured with industrial samples in a “mocking” finale.
Evil throughout history [b] is the last track, a continuation of the first one in a circle characterized by the familiar drones and acoustic elements, with a dark, ambient soundscape full of a monolithic atmosphere, evoking the majesty of places without human presence. A spectral semi-melody can be heard, but the scene is dominated by the usual industrial samples, which guide us toward the closing silence.
A work showing once again the art and the conception of music of Becuzzi, where the experimental research on sounds sources and the use of electronic and acoustic instruments are backed by a strong understanding of music theory and songwriting: if you want to bend the rules, you have to know them, something forgotten most of the time in this field of music. As said, not something to be listened while doing mundane things as background music, but a piece of music requiring respect and the right time and mood to be fully experienced and appreciated; but make no mistake, we don’t have a conceptual premise that covers poor ideas and/or a bad execution, as they say “he talks the talk, and walks the walk”. Gladly recommended.
Label: Luce Sia/Show Me Your Wounds Production
Rating: 8