ACHELOO: Sirens (CD on AD Music)
This release from 2008 features 69 minutes of celestial electronic music.
Acheloo is Italian synthesist Carlo Luzi (on guitar and electronics).
Besides the typical texturals, auxiliary electronics are employed to flesh out this music's substance. Additional atmospheric drones bask the general milieu, generating a lush environment of sparkling vapors.
A lot of the guitar contributions manifest as processed waves, sustained notes elongated into infinite drones possessing a cloud-like character. Generally these waves are tender and remote, but on a few occasions the notes achieve a piercing cadence. Meanwhile, more traditional guitarwork (gentle strumming with ambrosial afterglows) appears in a few tracks, lending a sultry beauty to these pieces.
The presence of tastefully subtle chorales nicely enhances this astral quality, bestowing the tunes with an warm, organic flavor.
There is some percussion, but it is deeply immersed in the flow, so distant that the beats are often more reminiscent of applied electronic glitches than any conventional impacts.
These compositions are delicate and airy, designed to instill calm in the listener. But Acheloo achieves a distinct charisma with his sounds which are cleverly crafted to convey a celestial majesty. The melodies float on high. Streamers of ephemeral tones establish a tantalizing serenity that is then teased into mild animation by heavenly guitar, angelic choirs, and softly blooping electronics.
ACHELOO: Ishtar (CD on AD Music)
This release from 2008 features 59 minutes of engaging electronic music.
Acheloo is Italian synthesist Carlo Luzi (on guitar and electronics).
The guitar's presence is more prominent on this release, providing a plethora of languid tonal expressions, those processed sustains that sound so soulful as they spiral into the sky.
But the guitar also offers a variety of conventional chords with periodic strumming and plucking. These flavor the flow with a soft passion, seasoning things with a meticulously aerial smolder. There's some delicious interplay between guitar textures and guitar notes, creating a cosmic milieu of euphoric character.
While often secondary in their prominence, the electronics compensate for that subordinate vantage by engaging in the use of a diversity of sounds. Tonalities provide an ample droning backdrop, but addition electronics shine in peripheral roles that often transform the music into wondrous sonic gems.
A percentage of percussion is present, but most of the songs flourish nicely as beatless structures. Chimes are employed in several instances. In one track, vocal chorales appear in tandem with reasonably prominent rhythms, resulting in a delightful ascension.
These compositions exhibit a trace more oomph than conventional ambient music. While retaining a pleasant gentility, the music communicates a heartfelt yearning compounded with its own emotional payoff. Some of the pieces are quite attractive in their understated vibrancy, delivering far more than auralscapes.
ACHELOO: Khimaira (CD on AD Music)
This release from 2009 features 57 minutes of tender electronic music.
Acheloo is Italian synthesist Carlo Luzi (on guitar and electronics).
The first track begins with shimmering guitar chords rising from a pool of liquid tonalities. Hints of softly caressed chimes reverberate in the distance, soon occluded by more definite chime tones which possess a keyboard timbre. Emergent drones lend an eerie foundation as the guitar returns and conjoins with the various chime-like elements. Subtle beats mark the imminence of the composition's tender conclusion.
The next piece features languid guitar sustains that gently waft to and fro, embellished by a softly ticking rhythm and tenuous texturals. More conventional rhythms (in the form of bongo beats) emerge to attribute the sashaying melodics with a mild locomotion. The processed guitar strains achieve a glorious beauty as they sigh and waver amid the mix.
In the third track, while guitar textures are utilized, the stringed instrument's more prevalent presence comes in the form of studious plucking. Vaporous electronic tones breathe in the background, surging forth with the exhale and receding with the inhale. Ethereal clicking provides a haunting embellishment. Rhythmic pulsations add a glisten to the song's finale.
The last track is a wondrous pastiche of luxurious guitar textures that establish a fluid auralscape of melodic distinction. Electronics interplay with the sighing guitar strains, augmented by ephemeral chimes rattling within the mix. Gradually, the electronics muster the verve to challenge the guitar tones, achieving an ambrosial charm.
These compositions are thoroughly beguiling. Luzi's predilection of crafting melodic ambience is breathtaking to behold, leaving heartfelt impressions on the listeners.
ACHELOO: Cycle (CDR on Acheloo Music)
This release from 2012 features 62 minutes of solemn ambience.
Acheloo is Italian synthesist Carlo Luzi (on guitar and electronics).
These tunes offer a darker mode of ambience, with slight emphasis on experimental stylings.
Guitar texturals still dominate the compositions, but now those tones harbor a sense of portentous haunting. The chords shimmer in shadow, reaching forth every once in a while to display piercing sustains of dire mien.
At first the electronics are generally soft, well hidden, almost subliminal as they establish airy foundations for the guitar expressions. But in subsequent tracks, the electronics emerge as an equal contributor, crafting eerie sounds and cybernetic breezes, enhancing the music's overall murky milieu.
Some keyboards are present, their carefully inserted notes punctuating the flow like droplets of light plummeting into the stygian depths.
A few tracks integrally utilize tones of a violin nature, lending these pieces a chamber music mood--but a mood tinted with a grave inclinations. Accompanying pulsations foster this grim demeanor.
In another track, strings are scraped to generate an edgy flair that bristles with a suppressed tension. Incidental electronics provide the proper embellishment, elevating the song's sense of seething omen.
These compositions pursue a more somber temperament, evoking sacred abysses deep in the woods, places where ancient ceremonies inhabit the night. And yet the typical mood created is not a spooky one, but rather a sober reverence for mysterious occasions.
| Entire page © 2012 Matt Howarth. All rights reserved. |
Webpage design by
 |