ETHEREAL (FR)

(Translated from French)

Very often cited as the bridgehead of the Italian electro-acoustic scene, Giuseppe Ielasi is not really that often present on these pages. No releases and no solo concerts have been recorded since 2010, and he is in fact mentioned more as a technician or label manager. With its return to 12k, here is a good opportunity to see where the Transalpine is in its musical journey. In this respect, we can quickly see that he has refined his subject even more, focusing here on acoustic guitar glissandos, decked out in effects and treatments to stretch them to the maximum, and give these Five Wooden Frames, or five tracks lasting between five and seven minutes.

Naturally, with such a starting postulate, the risk of a very ascetic album is never far away (especially since the songs are soberly titled 01, 02, 03, etc …) but the listener manages to capture some inflections from one track to another, like the plucked strings of 02, the whistles and muffled chords of 03 or slides of 04. Giuseppe Ielasi’s desire to take advantage of the self-constraint then emerges. imposed to cover quite widely the possibilities offered by his acoustic guitar. As often in such a case, from the slightly corseted frame is born a form of exploratory freedom which favors, from one title to another, this feeling of being faced with something bigger than a “simple” treated acoustic guitar. .

If some tracks (01 and 05, in particular) suffer from a certain lack of internal renewal, their management positions of the other three tracks reflect a clever construction of the album, as if the Italian had himself perceived this impression. . It is therefore another sign of the fine maturity that Ielasi has achieved, as well as of the good mastery of his art.