A magmatic, unaltered, interlocking and mind-blowing release that transcends and defies clearly bounded musical frontiers in order to conceive a seriously dreamy sound tapestry, an energetic musical trip which is mysteriously lovely and constantly charming
Sparkle in Grey is a truly original musical collective and leading figure in the realm of chamber-post rockin’ / avant-garde electronica. Formed in the late ’90s by the sound designer and multi-instrumentalist Matteo Uggeri (Hue), this project rapidly became a team work with the presence of a bunch of trained musicians (Alberto Carozzi, Cristiano Lupo, Franz Krostopovic) The musical signature encompasses an obvious chamber-like music dimension including a colorful and dense world of drones, textures, sketches and articulated noise frequencies. Totally instrumental and partly improvised, Sparkle in Grey’s unique musical signature oscillates between dream-pop rockin’ melodious intimacy and picturesque abstract electronic experimentalism. If their previous titled Mexico was a radical and sympathetic immersion into almost soundtracky ambiences with some shoegazing electronic moments, Sparkle in Grey’s new album is a more enigmatic-complex-visionary and darkly psychedelic effort.
The ensemble is enthralling, melancholic and ecstatically punchy. A real innovative musical artifact which starts with the freely improvised jamming psych minimalist “Der Mauer”. It carries on with the heavily and super-hypnotic “Boiling Humiliations” which goes into a rare blissed-out effervescence, made of raw guitar tricks melted into collages sounds and noisy sound manipulations. “Of Swift Flight” introduces the listener into a nightly flowing musical dreamy-like ballad made of acoustic instrumentation and processed tonal colors (the general atmosphere reminds partly the minimalist sounding pastoralism of Moondog’s chordal pieces or Third Ear Band at their most eerily acoustic vibes). “Song of Arch Staton” shows an other facet of the band’s very own creativity with a merciless, almost goth-batcaving drone ritualism sustained by heavily processed sounds and bombastic hypno-ish programmed electronic beats. A hauntingly and ferociously psychedelic gloom-pop avalanche. The track ends up with highly intense and darkly emotional vibes. “Soft City” pursues a singular combination between almost death-rockin’ guitar patterns and a moodily psych electronic instrumentation. Is a detached and aerial folk-ish interlude sustained by deep bass lines and dreaming epic-wandering sounding qualities (made of field recordings, violin drone laments and guitar notes). “Piano Song” is a softly sentimental and touching air for the piano, violin and bass guitar. “Der Harbour” closes the album with a ravishing post-rock improvisation—weirdly cinematic, punchy and delicately made with an impressive crescendo.
With this magnificent album the Sparkle in Grey musical collective demonstrates once again their instrumental ability and brilliant sense of composition to ravish our listening experience. A magmatic, unaltered, interlocking and mind-blowing release that transcends and defies clearly bounded musical frontiers in order to conceive a seriously dreamy sound tapestry, an energetic musical trip which is mysteriously lovely and constantly charming. Absolutely essential for all adventurous listeners and those who love challenging electronic-rock music at its pick of creativity. With its unbelievable musical enthusiasm and magic moments, Thursday Evening can be easily regarded as a major accomplishment.
Thursday Evening is available on Grey Sparkle.
