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review by Dene Bebbington Here we have the latest solo release from Italian musician Luca Formentini, and I must say it's one of the more curious releases to have come my way due to its experimental nature. His website name of unguitar refers to "unconscious guitarism making subconscious music", this hints at the experimental nature of his work making much use of acoustic, electric, and fretless guitars. The subterraneans title of this album could be taken to mean a trip down into the workings of mind, or underground places; and especially if uninfluenced by track titles the listener has plenty of scope to make his own interpretations. On many of the tracks (there's sixteen in all adding up to nearly seventy-three minutes) the guitars, along with other processed sounds and samples, continually create snippets of curious and sometimes eerie sounds. Occasionally it can become quite pleasant (not that the album is unpleasant per se but it is unusual and not easy listening) like on the track "Mother" which uses guitar to create a gently reverential and almost melodic four(ish) minutes of mainly acoustic music. Also occasionally there's some rhythm, as in the short piece "One to other" which made me think of a busy factory with its kind of hammering effects. Subterraneans isn't really my cup of tea because it comes across more like modern art in sound than music. As an experimental work exploring the hard to pin down workings of the subconscious it probably works well though, and there's no doubt that Luca knows how to manipulate guitars to produce some atmospheric, albeit peculiar, sounds. |
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