Raul Lovisoni / Francesco Messina - Prati Bagnati Del Monte Analogo

Superior Viaduct stretch their learned hands out further into the world of legendary Italian label, Cramps Records, with this reissue of one of its undoubted (but many) highpoints. Though clearly both esteemed composers and musicians, Raul Lovisoni and Francesco Messina don't really share much recorded history, either alone or together, and Prati Bagnati Del Monte Analogo was their first and only collaborative work. It seems unusual. This three song suite is poised, patient and pioneering in a way that suggests two very enquiring minds, and a detailed approach that draws from multiple sources - drone, minimalism, classical/mod. composition and even aspects of choral song. Surely there were further avenues for the pair to pursue together? To the good, what they do leave here is a text rich enough to reward repeat visits, the intersection of harp, sustained piano, synthesizers and, so i read, crystal glasses incredibly delicate and highly nuanced. This is very pretty music, but it is by no means slight. There's a vaporous, near-silent beauty that's too emotionally loaded to be labeled New Age - some of the the signifiers may be present, but there's substance here that belies (what I prejudicially believe to be) such questionable associations. I don't really want to call it ambient, either (though it could serve that function if that's what you're searching for), instead preferring to consider this tacitly radical experimental composition that uses space in such a manner that it demands attention from the listener through its quietude. One for when you need the rest of the world to fall away, which is just about all the time these days i suppose.