Giuseppe Ielasi
Gesine
(Häpna)
Giuseppe Ielasi is an Italian experimental guitarist and electronic musician who has collaborated with a handfull of different artists (including Dead Roberts). He released a solo effort on the Sedimental label back in 2003 and Gesine is his follow-up, a slow-burn CD of six tracks and just over a half-hour of music that flickers with same sort of hazy unfocus that the sky has when the burnt-orange sun sits half hidden by the horizon at dusk.
Ielasi has used only guitar and percussion as sound sources for this release, and although he touches both instruments with some electronic tweaking, the results are very subtle gradations on the original sounds. If Oren Ambarchi allowed himself to go a little more organic, the results might sound something similar to this. While there are six tracks on the disc, they're all untitled and all act as miniature movements to an overall piece. The first track opens with some plucked notes that ring out over a soft bed of feedback, while what sounds like soft finger snaps drift in and out of the mix like some sort of hypnotic hand trying to induce trance.
At over ten minutes, the second track is easily the longest on the release, but it's also one of the most engaging as filtered percussion crackles and gurgles underneath everything while sparse guitar strums reverb into the deep abyss. The track is slightly haunting, yet never feels oppressive as the bright notes ring out against the sparse backdrop. On the third track, the percussion becomes the main element as rumbling drums overwhelm clipped fragments of guitar that never materialize while the fourth track pulls together moreso than any other song on the entire release with a lovely repeated guitar motif and kitchen-sink percussion clatter that works quite well. At a couple points, the track feels like it's going to completely fall off the rails, but it always pulls back in time and at some points even tightens itself even more.
Despite only using two instruments for sound sources, and not using a huge variety of editing tricks, Ielasi has constructed a lovely little release that never gets stuck in one place for too long and makes great use of the tone and timbre of the instruments themselves by isolating them so much. The fifth track runs a bit long in that it's essentially only a six-minute tonal drone, but given what comes ahead of and behind it, Gesine is a fine second release. Fans of Dean Roberts will probably find things to enjoy here, as well as the aforementioned Ambarchi.
Rating: 7
