Published by Davide Pappalardo on December 2, 2018
VRNA (Urna) is the dark ambient/”post-apocalyptic” project of Italian composer Gianluca Martucci. At the beginning of his career under this moniker he employed field-recordings and abstract elements (Templum Sub Terra, Ordo Obscuri Domini, 1998), then he added acoustic (Liber Belle, Abgurd, 2008) and ritualistic/droning (Dead Deer Dream, III Arms, 2015) passages. Today an electro-acoustic template is the drawing board upon which different elements are layered in order to obtain a personal sound following a different theme and atmosphere on every release.
La Vecchia Madre (The Old Mother) is his new album for Old Europa Cafe, a work centered on the theme of death, life, and the relationship between them. Martucci has recently lost his father, and this very personal event became the background for the six pieces here reviewed. Ritualistic and ceremonial structures meet droning soundscape, harsh elements, acoustic moments and well placed crescendos, giving musical form to the reflections upon the main theme.
Of great silence starts the ceremony with its dense atmosphere enriched by droning noisescapes, soon reached by evocative chants, horn sounds and subtle orchestrations. A cathartic climax sees distorted sounds and a sacral motif evoking a ritual full of sadness and sense of void, where the disturbances could be interpreted as negative thoughts.
Ritual of self-burial follows suit with its shrilling sounds and spacey mantras, conjuring a looping path interrupted by harsh rhythms with an industrial-tinged vibe. Dark ambient and power-electronics elements are here used in order to achieve a majestic atmosphere, but during the second half of the track soothing choruses seem to reaffirm an elegiac theme.
Empty is another example of dark ambient mixed with ritual elements and droning soundscapes, a dark affair with a subtle and crawling crescendo with ominous whispered vocals and sacral chants. The underlining brooding atmosphere evokes dark thoughts plaguing our minds during the mourning . During the second half of the episode, delicate melodies and riffing distortions guide us in a crescendo which reminds us of the role of life and of the melancholy in our hearts.
Cenere employs ghostly vocals in an minimal setting slowly reaching a shrilling motif with aural qualities, an experimental take on ambient music in which droning chants and obsessive movements become one. The track evolves into a noise-affair with looping distortions and hypnotizing clicking sounds, conjuring a mantra completed by distant drums.
Campi di polvere continues our journey with an acoustic motif made of delicate guitars and peaceful melodies. A drone soundscape grows during the duration of the track, just like a reminder of the inevitability of death, and the same way it replaces life, the more abrasive structure replaces the former.
La vecchia madre – ritual of awakening ends the work with a wall of sound made of shrilling effects and vocals full of reverb, displaying an obsessive nature with noise climaxes and brooding atmospheres. Once again elements akin to power electronics and industrial music are used in the composition, reaching violent factory-like sounds. Dissonance has a role too, completing a frightening soundscape collapsing into a second half with ethnic vibes and rhythmic structures full of vital energy and tribalistic mantras. Life after death, the listener is born again in a perpetual circle.
A personal work which expands upon its premise and roots, giving us a mix of evocative sounds, cerimonial patterns, droning elements, well placed acoustic passages, and harsh noisescapes. It perfectly frame a series of emotions, thoughts, realizations, reflections upon death and life, the way the former impact our lives, the way the second one is like an eternal flux linked in a circle we all are part of. If you are looking for well thought ambient music with dark undertones, acoustic moments and noise elements, this is the work for you.
Label: Old Europa Cafe
Rating: 7,5