Fabio Liberatori & Arturo Stalteri Empire Tracks

If you want something melodic but without all the usual EM cliches start here. This has rhythms but I wouldn’t call it rhythmic, it has sequences but it certainly isn’t retro. What is it then? God knows! It is just a very different listening experience, occasionally difficult but always pleasant, inventive and fascinating.The slow sequences and plodding drums on ‘Forum’ initially take you into a trance but then faster rhythms are added, then disappear then appear again when least expected. Amongst it all strange synth textures and ‘tinklings’ attract the attention for just a few seconds then the mind is directed to some other oddity. ‘Island of Prayers’ is much more straight forward, effectively a modern piano piece, very pleasant and easy to get into.

‘Opus Fugatus’ uses a simple melody for the initial focus with string stabs but then a pastoral feeling is brought to the for which is soon replaced by cosmic shimmers and an almost tribal rhythm. Like much of the album 'Memory Sails’ sounds very acoustic but all the instruments listed are electronic. Some very fine sampling must have taken place me thinks. Again very melodic and beautiful but just when you are relaxing and going with the flow in blasts a rhythm that is certainly electronic. It is a very strange direction for the track to take but the album uses juxtapositions like this to create much of its effect.. ‘Battle Echoes’, relies on piano melodies but with rather strange synth underpinnings. The combination of sounds and rhythms get stranger as the track goes on. Different but interesting. A sequence almost imperceptibly gets louder and louder on ‘Underground Tracks’. A train getting steadily closer? The pace then really quickens as we are transported to the train itself, hurtling through the darkness. At the half way mark, probably because it is the only thing we haven’t had on the album yet, a dance beat stutters into life and goes very well with the concept of high speed motion. There are loads of things on this album which shouldn’t really go together but somehow they work well. Finally we get ‘Crossing the Path’ which like the second track is a modern piano piece. A million miles away from ‘Underground’ but that is really to be expected from an album that I think tries to be unique and if that was Fabio’s intention he has certainly succeeded. (DL)

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