Genre: Experimental

01 Earthly Principle
02 Cosmic Norms
03 Universal Order
04 Electronic Rules

There are moments in my life when, after listening to and reviewing a bucketful of noise and power electronics offerings, I wish for something a little less intrusive to wrap myself in – something very much like this absolutely beautiful album by Maurizio Bianchi and Emanuela De Angelis in fact, the one a well-known veteran of the experimental music scene and the other fast becoming a star within the same firmament. If it was entirely possible for me to spin myself cotton-wool clouds from the finest threads of sound then I would be floating away into the far blue after listening to this, such is its finesse and delicacy. However, before you dismiss that statement as indicative of a lack of strength or discipline then let me assure you nothing could be further from the truth.

The clue is in the album’s title, as well as explicitly stated in the name of the fourth track; ‘Regolelettroniche’, roughly translated, means Rule Electronics, or more plainly, ‘Electronic Rules’. Plus there’s also more clues contained in the other track titles: ‘Principle’, ‘Norms’, and ‘Order’ imply structure and regularity, and this is what you find underlying each of these pieces. What superficially appear to be rather freeform and slightly chaotic meanderings possess strong foundations imbuing all the pieces with a definite substructure of order that pins them down precisely and gives them enormous strength. Consisting mainly in subtly looped segments and repetitions that evolve minimally over the course of their duration, it’s a perfect echo and reflection of the workings and beauty of the universe we find ourselves the inhabitants of, to my ears at least – just like the slow millions of years that galaxies and supernovae need to expand and develop into the stunning images that telescopes like Hubble have revealed to us. Just like those interstellar phenomena, it is only when you hear these tracks unfold in their fullness that you appreciate their true glory and pristine beauty.

By far the most sweepingly grandiose track is the opener, ‘Earthly Principle’, twenty-five minutes of pure crystalline and uplifting chordage that slowly and minutely builds into a most glorious piece of music that’ll lift your mind and feet to send you soaring out of the mundane and into the stellar. This created the same feeling in me when I first heard Ashra’s ‘Deep Distance’ track from their classic 1976 ‘New Age of Earth’ album – I remember shivers coursing up and down my spine and my imagination leaping into the nightsky, destined for vistas that filled lightyears and systems as yet undiscovered, when I heard it on the radio at the tender age of 13. I have never forgotten that moment, and to this day there have been very few instances where other music has brought that feeling flooding back. This is one of them.

If you like music that stubbornly refuses to remain earthbound, instead wanting to lift off into the heavenly blue and further out into the deeps, then I have absolutely no hesitation in pointing you in the direction of this fine collection of inspiring pieces. Just like the Ashra album alluded to above, this will be a mainstay of my collection for many, many years to come; I can guarantee that in a further twenty years or so this will still be getting a regular hearing, whatever technology or platform is available then.