Grosso Gadgetto :: Progressus (Mahorka)

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A delicious, bittersweet atmosphere gently envelops Progressus, carrying a sense of timeless grace and sentient enchantment throughout.

A rich, transversal, and oblique musical dialogue

Grosso Gadgetto (alias Christian Gonzales) is a mysterious, multifaceted, and striking experimental electronic music project based on the outskirts of Lyon. Christian is the kind of sound artist I could have encountered during my time in the city before moving on to other horizons. This musical entity is highly productive and well known among followers of the groundbreaking and challenging Mahorka label, with which I recently had the pleasure of releasing a project of my own.

Progressus offers a rich, transversal, and oblique musical dialogue between vibrant instrumental melodicism and eerie, groove-textured ambient experimentalism, all within a colorful cinematic aura. A delicious, bittersweet atmosphere gently envelops the album, carrying a sense of timeless grace and sentient enchantment throughout.

The listener is drawn into a solitary journey toward mysterious destinations. The pieces unfold as electronic polyphonies, with enveloping layers of sound and minimal, repetitive melodies that ultimately bridge soundtrack-like modern classical elements with elegant, futuristic soundscapes. This musical voyage blends droning, cosmic, ethereal, and immersive qualities, designed to captivate and elevate the listening experience. It leaves ample room for emotion, introspection, and solitude, punctuated by occasional moments of austerity and an underlying, ascending spiritual current. Progressus moves slowly and invitingly, remaining relatively accessible thanks to its impressionistic and melodious core, while maintaining a deeply cinematic scope.

If you are drawn to the grand, neo-romantic cinematic orchestration of Luke Howard, Clint Mansell, or Howard Shore (particularly in Cronenberg’s films), as well as the dystopian, chilling electronic directions of Ben Frost, John Carpenter, Tyler Bates, or Graeme Revell, this new release on the ever-reliable Mahorka label is well worth your attention.