LUCA SIGURTÀ
Bliss
FRATTO017
Fratto9 Under The Sky Records 2012
05 Tracks. 42mins19secs

Bliss is an all too elusive feeling; one which conjures both ideas of extreme spiritual peace and of intense yet controlled happiness, and which often requires to be honed to be reached. It is anything but owed or deserved, it is attained. Bliss is exactly what Italian sound artist Luca Sigurtà is aiming at with his new album, his first for Fratto9, and whilst the industrial setting featured on the cover of his album may hint at everything but bliss, the music offers a very different perspective.

Recorded between 2010 and 2011, Bliss follows releases on Afe, Creative Sources, Tulip or Fragments. Articulated around five untitled pieces, all clocking between six and a half and ten minutes, the album is a slow and stern soundtrack. Working essentially with tapes and analog electronics, his sonic compositions are for the most part drone and noise based, although his noise structures should be understood as ‘non-musical’ rather than abrasive. The album opens with bubbling electronics and low-lying chords, but soon the shimmers turn into something much more sombre, evoking in turn splashing water or clattering machines. As the chords dissolve, these textural components become increasingly denser. The second piece is even more contrasted, yet Sigurtà takes on a different approach as he focuses for a moment on fragments of melody which his purposely leaves as sketches.

It is all change with the last three tracks though as Sigurtà assembles pretty stark sound sequences. Built around dramatic chords, sounding like a sweeping orchestral set up considerably slowed down, the third piece manages to be at once extremely bleak and surprisingly dreamy. Although perhaps not quite as desolate, this is at times reminiscent of Thomas Köner’s work, and, whilst sounding extremely sleek, the micro distortion that peppers its progression give it an organic feel which was partially lacking on previous tracks. The following piece follows a similar idea, but with its middle section literally smothered with statics and crackles, the piece appears more corrosive. If the mood remains particularly sombre here, there is a glimmer of light shinning through which hints at more open spaces, especially as the statics die down. Continuing on this idea, Sigurtà closes this album with a piece based around a rather disturbingly piercing drone which continuously changes aspect through its whole course as it becomes confronted with a much more ominous bass drone as random noises take shape and disappear in the distance.

Luca Sigurtà’s state of bliss is not quite one that instantly inspires peace of mind, yet the way he assembles his soundscapes and places them against each other creates a deep reflective currant which eventually binds this album together. Bliss it may not seem at first, Sigurtà’s intense sonic constructions require to be worked at and properly assimilated before they can be appreciated for what they are, but persistence is rewarded as the inherent peace which infuses these sonic compositions is finally revealed.

4/5

Luca Sigurtà (Soundcloud) | Fratto9 Under The Sky Records