Irene Bianco - Kronblade

Alongside Permanent Draft co-founder Fanny Chiarello, Valentina Magaletti dons another hat and climbs over to the other side of the counter for the release of the quietly stunning debut album by Copenhagen-based sound artist/composer, Irene Bianco. No prizes for guessing just what Magaletti was drawn to in Kronblade, Bianco's use of various forms of percussion an obvious shared interest with that of her label boss and I don't doubt that anyone drawn to the brilliance of A Queer Anthology of Drums won't feel a similar pull here. But let's also take Kronblade on its own merits, six interrelated pieces of unconventional ambition possessed of a rare confidence for music of this kind. Since these aren't songs in the accepted verse-chorus structure, they might then be described as impressionistic, but it's rare for such improvised music to display such intent. The combination of electroacoustic instrumentation and field recordings is charged with much potential, and Bianco is nothing if not a keen explorer, building a bewitching, quicksilver fog of drone, post-industrial, avant jazz and fourth world alien sound that's both hard to place and, to these ears at least, highly addictive. The NWW list might have made a good place for this, that same kind of implacable sound that keeps you returning for more in pursuit of understanding. What is it? Let's listen again to find out. It's a feeling that plays out perfectly in the final two tracks, 'kronblade 1' an abstracted Korm Plastics styled psychoactive rattle than then gives way to the unexpectedly pretty ambience of 'Op ned', that ushers to a close with the gentle trills of a xylophone and indefinable found sound ambiance. A killer opening gambit and it's gonna be a treat to see where Bianco chooses to go next.