Francesca Marongiu -Still Forms in Air (Umor Rex)

*** This blog post first appeared in TSMM's August 24th Newsletter, where you can get all the tips (and more) first ***

Francesca Marongiu has just come out of the pseudonymous closet and released an album under her own name and I don’t blame her either, it’s something to be proud of. Getting a handle on her previous output is a bit tricky, much of it isn’t available to stream and only resides on dusty physical media, but from the couple of snippets I did track down she seems to have been ploughing a more abrasive, maximal ambient furrow so I’m OK with only just catching up with her now, as she explores the more soothing and serene end of the electronic spectrum.

Consisting of four long form creations ranging from six and a half to sixteen minutes long the album has been inspired by mid-1980s Japanese new age and ambient music, otherwise known as kankyō ongaku (environmental music), and less directly by vintage Italian experimental music to great Eurasian, ethereal fusion effect.

The album opens with modular synths falling like the first drops of summer rain, which spur the shaken and gently struck percussion from the sun lounger to pepper the sonic precipitation, every microsound luxuriating in the ample space provided. Nothing happens quickly here,and at nine and half minutes long nothing needs to either, but eventually a light synth blows from the north consuming the space and adding a refreshing breeze, as the audio drops and vintage pads increase in frequency and density before being swept away by cascading, distinctly vintage sci-fi synth pads that seem to herald a new technological age.

Starting in similarly minimal fashion “A Dome Under The Pines” initially has a new age meets classical orchestra tuning feel, before some childlike Japanese percussive patterns make an attempt to round up the minimal splatter but soon gives up to embrace the joyful randomness, although they make a further half hearted attempt at the end of this good natured tune. The somewhat disingenuously named “Floral Ascent”, the most Italo of tracks on this Eastern fixated LP, starts with somewhat serious sounding vintage synths by comparison, which are soon joined by some low frequency bumpiness, bubbling alien swamp & associated fauna sounding field recordings and contrasted with some glistening cosmic tones, evoking everything and consequently nothing simultaneously.

Thankfully Marongiu is of a similar opinion to me, that every long form release needs an indulgent ten minute plus closing track of unbridled creativity, so on “Città Metafisica” she heads back to the land of the rising sun with an ancient meets eighties refrain that marries ancient temples and Tokyo’s restlessness for five hypnotic minutes, until gently shaken percussion ushers in some stand up bass and sporadic drums to infuse the vintage new age constructs with some minimal jazz, which in turn invites some passing spectral vocals to haunt the intensifying soundstage. It’s a fitting end to a mighty fine recording.

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Playlist Companion

Find Marongiu in the New Age of New Age Playlist: