Liquid Days Review by Daryl Shawn

This is a collection of Anile's solo pieces, some composed for this work, some previously issued as part of other projects.

After hearing the first minute, I reached for the headphones - this is a deep, layered, intimate album.

Interestingly, it begins with "Ultimo", which means "last" - interesting choice, and it wastes no time in introducing a multifaceted world, with nontonal environmental sounds creating counterpoint to a lovely, pensive piano melody.

The next, "End Titles", is again an unusual choice of title early on in an album. It's a tremendously weighty piece, I'd imagine quite appropriate to the closure of a tragic film. (Indeed, it's part of the Chain Tape Collective's CT-Film compilation, albeit created for an imaginary movie). There's a rhythmic figure that enters halfway through that sounds like footsteps, or nails on a windowpane, or a cord being yanked out of its socket; it's not a jarring sound, but a haunting one. Underscoring much of it is an even more foreboding vocal sample, dark and almost moaning, like a cadre of monks held in a windowless cell, bent under fetters.

"Misterious Power" -" already covered in my review of the CT Collective "Great Speeches" project (curated by Anile), begins in maybe the closest thing to Frippertronics here, which I don't mention to diminish it in any way; it's staggeringly beautiful.

"In a Pearly Way" opens quietly, and continues there, with hints of backwards lines poking through the cloaks of airy sound. One of those tunes you don't feel comfortable speaking overtop of. Shh..

"First Call From the Moon" shows pleasing wisps of polytonality that are never harsh, and seem almost to suggest leaving the atmosphere of a familiar planet and entering into unknown territory. This is built around Neil Armstrong's radio transmission from when he first set foot on the moon, and when he intones the famous words "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind", his voice seems to break. The music enhances what must have been a supremely moving moment for that individual, all alone on the dust of a new world. With the pulsing drums and touches of guitar riffing from Milco Montagna, this track is the one that comes the closest to rocking.

"In a Land of Stars" is carried by a rich, resonating drone, splashed with descending echoes like drips of sound on a canvas, very much suggesting the astral bodies of the title. Carefully chosen chords step in occasionally, lending their repeats to the dense emptiness. Anile really does an excellent job of suggesting the material of his titles with his sounds, without being gimmicky. "Landing on Water", a stately number based around an overtone-rich sort of organ, features sprays of white noise that readily evoke surf, a nice choice; I believe that actual wave samples would have been far too obvious. This kind of tasteful choice is the hallmark of this collection.

I already covered "Now is the Time" in this review, but just wanted to underscore the richness of the composition here and how it works with Martin Luther King Jr.'s text, sometimes pausing dramatically on a relative minor chord before resolving with the words to a powerful and ultimating uplifting conclusion.

"Liquid Day" is the only solo piano piece, and comes across as a tad muffled which may be my only minor quibble here. But I can't say that the diminished fidelity doesn't lend it a bit of a dreamlike feel. It's thoughtful, and gorgeous, fading out delicately, a real contrast to the final "Foglie Morte" which picks up on a muscular note, with an insistent repeated single-note ostinato. It's the one live track on the album, and sounds it, with a surging energy that clearly comes from live performance. Here it's especially clear how smoothly Anile incorporates looping (and sequences, perhaps) into solo playing, there are no "four pianos" tricks here, just a nicely thick blend of textures that would normally be the work of three or more individuals.

I really, really enjoyed this. Top marks.

Liquid Days Reviewed by Nikita Dulics

Fabio Anile, born in Sicily, now living in Rome was a student of classical piano. His primary interests are ambient music and is inspired by French literature, art, film and the environment.

Eterogeneo, his ambient name, has been involved in a number of projects in the last few years, including sound installations, soundtracks, festivals and collaborative releases on the CT (Chain Tape) Collective net label. It is the accumulation of these experiences that has given rise to his first eteroneneo album – Liquid Days.

His first solo CD, as the title “Liquid Days” suggests, forms a cycle of works ranging from atmospheric film style soundtracks to great speeches with accompanying music. The days of the week, or some imaginary time period, flow from one to the other, the works Anile has chosen progress nicely in a carefully selected manner.

This liquid movement, if you will, compliments Anile’s pursuit in looped ambient music.

The opening track, cleverly named “Ultimo”, Italian for ‘last’ or ‘final’, reveals Anile’s deep feeling for atmosphere. The piece opens with an edgy melancholic feel. Like waking from a dream, sunlight streaming through a window, a breeze gently flowing a curtain. Light jazzy piano then emerges creating an uplifting contrast, bringing the world into optimism. Following that, the dark and foreboding,

“End Titles”, was composed for the scrolling titles one would see at the end of an imaginary movie. Deep orchestral forms create images of storm clouds on the horizon. High strings create tension. The sound of a “whirly” becomes apparent, creating an atmosphere of windy storms and a scene of impending doom. A rippling piano emerges offering a glimmer of hope amongst the turbulence. Patrick Nunn on his CD “Sadhana” uses this same whirly sound to good effect, encouraging however, contemplation rather than dark tempests.

The album’s great speeches tracks start with “Mysterious Power”. Anile uses a synthesizer to create an ebb and flow of waves in space. This compliments the piece accompanying the speech made by Mahatma Ghandi (on God), 1931.

“First call from the moon”, the NASA moon landing recording is includes exciting rhythms and fuzz box electric guitar, reflecting the mood and excitement of the time.

A grand cinematic theme “Now is the time”, a Martin Luther King speech follows. These public domain recordings have had music by Anile, neatly timed to coordinate with major statements at various intervals. The Rev. King (I have a Dream) 1963 speech, being perhaps too long and including some distracting clapping, could have been arranged in a more interesting way. Bill Nelson’s “Chamber of Dreams” and Jóhann Jóhannsson’s “ibm 1401, a user’s manual” both use voice recordings to great effect. Rather than using a whole slab of unedited voice, snippets of choice phrases could be creatively arranged.

“In a pearly way”, “In a land of stars”, “Landing on water”, separate the speeches. These tracks prove to be more impressively evocative as ambient works. Floating on water, alone and insulated, sonic ripples, the white noise waves of a cosmic sea washing calm shores appeal to the senses.

Finally, “Foglie Morte”, Italian for “Dead Leaves” concludes the CD. Anile is perhaps refering to Riuchi Sakamoto and uses a staccato type of piano loop over which a free performance takes place, the sleeve notes claim, ‘live in Zurich’. (Toshifumi Hinata’s “Pavement” comes to mind here). While at times the improvisation seems to become unnecessary, the overall feel of the piece is of a meditative reflection on all that has passed and finalises the album on a positive note.

While most of the works on the CD are freely downloadable, some previously unreleased and unavailable material seems to have been included. Liquid Days by eterogeneo deserves repeated listenings.

The listener will be inspired and enjoy the imaginative experience the music creates.

Liquid Days Reviewed by Barry McNeill

 

Here is a CD from Italian ambient composer Fabio Anile and one that provides a very easy review. As with much of his past work, there is never any doubt that Fabio knows where he wants to take his musical ideas and the listener is the benefactor of this focused effort.

Relaxed, variable calmness would be the overriding description when considering the album as a body, but when stripped down to the track level, one finds individual gems with variable influences shining through.

Significant nods in the direction of Budd and Eno, are interspersed with ambience that could be described as more contemporary soundscape / film score influenced. In this respect, the album achieves a lot in terms of the development an expansion of basic ideas.

 

Particular tracks that really jump out are “Ultimo” for the beauty of its understated piano rooted in the Budd tradition,.

”In A Pearly Way” with its subtle yet deliberate wandering peace and calmness, “In A Land Of Stars” which heads towards the “outersphere” but is regularly pulled back to earth with revered delicate piano.

A very light suspense holds “Landing On Waters” throughout the piece, dotted with an inevitability that calmer times are just around the corner. Whilst this listener is not a general fan of sampled voice (at least sampled voice of the “famous” variety vis-à-vis MLK – I have a dream…), “Now is The Time” produces the air of inevitability of the death of Dr. King yet to come and the careful samples taken from the speech help to reinforce this.

 

Thinking about a recent theme on the list, this is not ambient that requires focused listening (in reference to a recent post and observation by Bill Binkelman) but is equally not pure “wallpaper” type ambient. Rather it bridges this gap neatly and allows the listener the choice to be either transported or remain grounded depending on the mood of the day. In that respect the CD works on many levels.

 

I can’t help thinking that many of Fabio’s musical ideas possess the core strength in the themes that would benefit significant exploration and extension over a longer 30 minute plus duration. I think this could really work well for the type of ambient that Fabio produces, ambient that generally “reflects” and benefits form time to mature. The title track “Liquid Days” is a perfect example that aches to be of full-length duration, the base being of such a high quality that it would sustain, grow and develop over an extended time period.

This thought perhaps sums up the album best. Rock solid ambient that could sustain a number of quality releases from the one CD alone.

Liquid Days Reviewed by Jeff Bechtel

Your CD is quite good, very listenable.
The music is very well composed, and thoughtfully assembled.
The writing is certainly first class, and the production and performance show you obviously have a lot of talent as a musician and composer. I find the music personally likeable and intellectually entertaining.
The vocal narrative present in some of the tracks in mind was meaningful on many levels to me personally.  I found the narrative on God personally inspiring, and interesting.

There are some 'purists' on the ambient list-serve that wouldn't call this ambient in the purest sense. Who cares- I use the ambient list-serve as a basis for some interesting input. I've in the past put out many things that could be considered halfway between classical, new age and purely electronic. For my purposes, your music is  ambient enough to fit into my ambient category- but you may find exceptions.