Giancarlo Toniutti :: Bàardum Guùmuse (For Your Red Tongue) (Anomalous)

Released on Anomalous Records, this album exemplifies his unique approach to electroacoustic composition, where organic and synthetic elements blend into a hypnotic, primal experience.

Channeling something ancient and ineffable

Giancarlo Toniutti’s Bàardum Guùmuse (For Your Red Tongue) is a dense and enigmatic work that continues his legacy of deep, textural sound exploration. Released on Anomalous Records, this album exemplifies his unique approach to electroacoustic composition, where organic and synthetic elements blend into a hypnotic, primal experience.

From the opening moments, Bàardum Guùmuse eschews traditional structure in favor of a slow-moving, immersive atmosphere. The soundscape is entirely built upon layers of homemade idiophones (glass, brass, wooden frames, metal tines, and steel plates) creating guttural drones, rustling percussive textures, and subtly shifting overtones. There’s an undeniable sense of the ritualistic here, as if Toniutti is channeling something ancient and ineffable through sound alone.

A defining characteristic of the album is its tactile nature. Rather than relying on digital manipulation, Toniutti crafts his compositions using heavily processed acoustic sources, creating a sense of physicality that makes the music feel alive. Fragments of what could be bowed metals, distant voices, and resonant wooden objects emerge and dissolve, adding to the album’s organic unpredictability. Despite its abstract nature, Bàardum Guùmuse never feels directionless—each sound appears carefully placed, as though it’s part of an intricate puzzle meant to be deciphered through deep listening.

Not an easy listen

The album’s title, which suggests a connection to language and the physical act of speech, reflects Toniutti’s approach to sonic articulation. The sounds feel almost linguistic in their construction, as if the composition itself is a form of communication beyond words. There’s an eerie, almost subconscious familiarity to the tones he employs, evoking sensations that are difficult to pin down yet deeply affecting.

Ultimately, Bàardum Guùmuse (For Your Red Tongue) is not an easy listen, nor does it seek to be. Instead, it demands patience and an open ear, rewarding those willing to engage with its sonic mysteries. For fans of deep, textural experimental music, this is an essential entry in Toniutti’s already formidable catalog.

Bàardum Guùmuse (For Your Red Tongue) is available on Anomalous. [Mail order]