PRESS
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Michael Gira - A Man
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Copper Press, Issue 10 | Julianne Shepherdhe could slice razors into our skin and convince you it was an act of love If Michael Gira sang about it, he could slice razors into our skin and convince you it was an act of love. Hank Williams, Leonard Cohen and Johnny Cash sing with an unrelenting sense of pending doom, but Gira imbues that sentiment with a resigned clarity, as if awful sorrow is beautiful merely because it exists at all. His baritone drifts heavily through the darkest parts of the human psyche. But M. Gira is a writer of love songs – he just deals in the atypical, the blackest parts of love, such as obsession, rejection, the masochism inherent in any devotion. You could say he explores the connection between love and horribleness. He says, “ I hope [the songs] portray an essential sentiment in some way – whether it be violent, mournful, lustful, tender or ecstatic. All these emotions seem to fit in a ‘love affair’ usually, at some point.” On How I Loved You, the latest record by the Gira-fronted ensemble Angels of Light, he sings “New York Girls, scattered crimson pearls / You touch me like......
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Michael Gira - A Man
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Copper Press, Issue 10 | Julianne Shepherdhe could slice razors into our skin and convince you it was an act of love If Michael Gira sang about it, he could slice razors into our skin and convince you it was an act of love. Hank Williams, Leonard Cohen and Johnny Cash sing with an unrelenting sense of pending doom, but Gira imbues that sentiment with a resigned clarity, as if awful sorrow is beautiful merely because it exists at all. His baritone drifts heavily through the darkest parts of the human psyche. But M. Gira is a writer of love songs – he just deals in the atypical, the blackest parts of love, such as obsession, rejection, the masochism inherent in any devotion. You could say he explores the connection between love and horribleness. He says, “ I hope [the songs] portray an essential sentiment in some way – whether it be violent, mournful, lustful, tender or ecstatic. All these emotions seem to fit in a ‘love affair’ usually, at some point.” On How I Loved You, the latest record by the Gira-fronted ensemble Angels of Light, he sings “New York Girls, scattered crimson pearls / You touch me like......
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Michael Gira - A Man
()
Copper Press, Issue 10 | Julianne Shepherdhe could slice razors into our skin and convince you it was an act of love If Michael Gira sang about it, he could slice razors into our skin and convince you it was an act of love. Hank Williams, Leonard Cohen and Johnny Cash sing with an unrelenting sense of pending doom, but Gira imbues that sentiment with a resigned clarity, as if awful sorrow is beautiful merely because it exists at all. His baritone drifts heavily through the darkest parts of the human psyche. But M. Gira is a writer of love songs – he just deals in the atypical, the blackest parts of love, such as obsession, rejection, the masochism inherent in any devotion. You could say he explores the connection between love and horribleness. He says, “ I hope [the songs] portray an essential sentiment in some way – whether it be violent, mournful, lustful, tender or ecstatic. All these emotions seem to fit in a ‘love affair’ usually, at some point.” On How I Loved You, the latest record by the Gira-fronted ensemble Angels of Light, he sings “New York Girls, scattered crimson pearls / You touch me like......
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Larsen | Rever | Review
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IL MUCCHIO | Federico Guglielmigratificante apprendere che i Larsen hanno realizzato il loro nuovo Rever per l'etichetta gestita da M. Giraconosciuto ai più come mente dello splendido progetto denominato Swans; e fa piacere constatare che proprio Gira ha seguito e guidato in studio il quintetto torinese, dopo che un altro famoso guru della scena di New York (Martin Bisi) si era assunto gli stessi oneri per il precedente No Arms , No Legs: Identification Problems. Oltre quattro anni dopo quel primo album autoprodotto, e piu' di sei dopo il mini cd (anch'esso realizzato in regime di autarchia) Born Under A Bad Influence, i lArsen son dunque tornati a proporsi, presentati dallo sticker apposto sulla spoglia ma elegante copertina come "italian cult collective/ urban folk, ritual/experimental soundscapes/ wall of love": una descrizione efficacissima che rende giustizia a tutte le componenti di un sound, ora assai meno aggressivo e rumoroso che in passato, nel quale convivono ritmi ipnotici, echi industrial, ossessioni minimaliste, testi recitati in inglese e italiano, intimismo filo-trance, accenni di improvvisazione jazz, melodie deviate e quant'altro. alcuni, non c'è dubbio, tireranno in ballo il post-rock, ma per quel che ci riguarda preferiremmo parlare di (scusate l'infame gioco di parole) pre-post,......
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Larsen | Rever | Review
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PSYCHO #57 | Roberto MichielettoItalian Cult Collective /Urban Folk /Ritual Experimental Soundscape /Wall Of LoveTutto ciò è riportato sull’etichetta che campeggia sul CD, con la funzione di fornire una vaga idea di quanto contenuto all’interno di ‘Rever’ e con l’intento di porre un sigillo di garanzia, ovvero la produzione di colui che ha reso immortali gli Swans, Michael Gira, che, oltre a produrre, ha deciso di pubblicare il disco per la propria etichetta, la Young God Records. Secondo lavoro sulla lunga distanza, dopo un buon album auto-prodotto (‘No Arms, No Legs: Identification Problems’), che i Larsen andarono a registrare a New York con il supporto di Martin Bisi, giusto per sottolineare come la loro determinazione sia sempre stata notevole. Il disco, schematicamente, si divide in tracce brevi e tracce lunghe; le prime non fungono solo da raccordo o da introduzione, ma si muovono in un contesto sonoro rock ambientale e malinconico; metaforicamente si potrebbe parlare di clima umido e sentimenti introspettivi. I brani che invece hanno un minutaggio tra i sette e gli undici minuti sviluppano temi musicali variabili, con un utilizzo di strumenti e di soluzioni strutturali diverse, mettendo in luce quella che è la natura della band torinese.......