ANTONY DE GENNARO

The Message Service

Ant-Man.com Records

review by Bill Binkelman

The Message Service from guitarist Antony de Gennaro is one of the most "textural" musical recordings in recent memory. This is not drone music, per se. It's more complex/intriguing to break down/analyze than a lot of drone music (which is not a qualitative statement of enjoyment, as much as it is a statement of what the music entails). Still, there's also no denying that, to some ears, this will sound like a lot of strange guitar sounds and that's about it. Well, to each his/her own, I suppose. I think it's amazing stuff, personally.

Besides the various permutations from his Fender Telecaster and Stratocaster (played bowed backwards and forwards, as well as using traditional methods, e.g. strummed), de Gennaro also plays Tibetan drum, wood blocks, cymbals, bells, and organ. However, it is his ingenuous way with crafting amorphous guitar sound sculptures that makes The Message Service so rewarding for the patient, discrete and observant listener. De Gennaro has recorded an album that is music, yet isn't. There's really little in the way of melodic content here, but it's not really atonal or "noise," either.

"Orbit," the opening track, reminded me (at times) of "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" from Pink Floyd's UmmaGumma, especially early in the song when de Gennaro uses the Tibetan drum to excellent effect. The bowed guitar is counterbalanced by languidly strummed chords and eerie guitar notes. The rhythm eventually fades away and the various and sundry guitar elements take on a more sparse and experimental sound. "I Was Once Me" is a bit harsher, featuring a deeper (in pitch) dominant guitar texture, played against cymbals in yet another echo of UmmaGumma. Later a touch of India and the Far East is heard in the discrete blending in of struck bells. The juxtaposition of the distorted/spacy guitar against the traditionally serene bells is adventurous to say the least.

De Gennaro sprinkles in the various accompanying instruments throughout the album, adding assorted bells here, cymbals there, and drums or wood blocks when the music can benefit from a pinch of rhythm. He is particularly gifted at layering the various musical elements without losing track of them. It's obvious the guitar is supposed to take center-stage, but the various percussion instruments are never buried, which was a key element in my overall enjoyment of The Message Service. This is fascinating music in which to lose oneself, yet I seldom "drifted away" while playing this because it's constantly evolving in both subtle and overt ways.

The overall feeling of the album is one of mystery or even mysticism, although using a Fender Stratocaster/Telecaster will obviously not strike some people as a new kind of singing bowl! There are sections where the music is quite minimal (such as on "The Cosmic Door" when bells and wood blocks end up dominating the guitar by the song's end). "Ceremony" plays like "real music" at times, as low-pitched organ chords and the fuzz tones of the guitar have an almost prog-fusion sound to them (something unexpected and highly pleasant to my ears). Also worth noting is the concluding track on the CD, "Friday," which is, for all intents and purposes, a conventional musical number. De Gennaro's guitar still features elements of what The Message Service contains up to this point, but there is also well-defined song structure, set rhythms, and chord progression - in short, all the elements of a "song," in this case, a blend of spacerock guitar and progressive world textures.

Ambient fans be warned - this is not a Jeff Pearce album. It's much less "ambient" than his drifting albums and less "guitary" than, for example, Bleed. Yet, The Message Service is a guitar lover's recording, or it is to my ears, at least. However, it's also a lot more than that. It's highly progressive and daring, without being what I would label atonal, dissonant, or avant garde. The artist himself describes it as "ambient transformation music." I'd call it "brave new spacemusic" because this music does certainly, using Stephen Hill's definition, "create a space." De Gennaro's talent for weaving all manner of electric guitar shadings and textures amongst the assorted percussive sounds and bell tones may be unsurpassed. Patience will be required to full appreciate this "Message Service," but trust me, the rewards are there if you answer its call.