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  • Larsen | Rever | Review

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    Pitchforkmedia | Dominique LeoneWhat I get here: gray skies, hollow trees, gallows poles...Rating: 7.9 ...night beasts along the moors, bouts of depression lit afire with trance, and trash can percussion-- not to mention more than an ounce of poetic pretense. But of course, when was emotional music supposed to deliver anything more weighty? It's very contagious, and I can hope that was the intention. Truthfully, I have no idea how or why this mysterious Italian band made this music. Furthermore, I'm not alone in this. Last year, Swans founder Michael Gira (and Young God Records chief) started getting odd packages from Torino, Italy. Inside were CD-Rs of sounds compiled, produced and otherwise emitted from a band of people known simply as Larsen. On his website, Gira describes the music therein as ranging from soft, accordion-based abstractions to "sometimes just a single sound or noise, a scraping sound, as if someone were slowly etching a piece of rusted metal with a blade of some sort." The final package he received had nothing like that, but rather a wad of cash, a ticket to Italy, and a request for him to produce an album for Larsen. And as anyone with even a......

  • Michael Gira | Interview

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    MONDO BIZARRE MAGAZINE, LISBON, PORTUGAL"I have just learned to dress my rage up in pretty clothing" You've been working for over 20 years. Which was the most important thing that you've learn along the way? A) that i never should have begun. B) that since i can't change the past, i should at least try to maintain a tenuous control of the present... Angels of Light works are, in a way, similar to late Swans works, as they are quiet and introspective than Body Lovers musical approach. Any reason for these separation of musical guidance? angels of light is songs. body lovers is sonic mangling. it doesn't make sense to me to mix them up anymore, as i once did with swans. they're both equal to me. Your music tends to be more and more peaceful, "minimal", restrained and "adult". This "adult" comes from this ideia I have of Swans early works as violent, youthful, enraged. Would you agree with these definitions? i have just learned to dress my rage up in pretty clothing. What are words to you? How important are they in your work? the words are everything. they are increasingly difficult to obtain, however. Have you done......

  • Larsen | Rever | Review

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    Just Like HoneyA curious monodrama with effective moments......Rever is actually the ultimate reality with equal parts abstract and relational. By any definition of the word this reclusive Italian band makes incredible music. Still the record can also seem overlong, overlayed and witless. Their sound at times is silent, whispers, drones or sustains short bursts of percussive chaos. NYC artist/producer Michael Gira recently flew to Torino to meet theband, at least in a manner of speaking. "I was never allowed to see them" said a stumped Gira. "The band played behind a screen in the recording studio.. They operate as some sort of hermetic cult/collective". On the fifty-minutes of Rever Roberto Maria Clemente, Paolo Dellapiana, Silvia Grosso, Fabrizio Palumbo and Marco Shiavo combine talents give the sound a perfect Pythagoras. Cymbals become quasi-divine and distorted guitars become generating entities. Philosophy 101 taught us Socratic theories always lead to the abstract, but are abstractions such as number and form capable of generating physical reality? Perhaps Larsen is actually some weird transmigration of soul from Charles Manson or early Yo La Tengo. "The material on this CD was recorded as one might execute a field recording" added Gira about making Rever. "The band......

  • Larsen | Rever | Review

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    Waterfront Week | Volume 12.5 | Mark Keresmansome of the breezes of the Mediterranean As I've often stated or implied in these pages, Brooklyn is where paths that crisscross the globe intersect. Take this ensemble from Torino, Italy, Larsen ­ this release (their first?) comes to us via Brooklyn's Young God Records, the label started by M. Gira of Swans/Angels of Light/Body Lovers fame. Larsen ­ who are named on the CD but not identified by photographs ­ mailed Gira some CD-Rs of their music, and then asked him to come to Italy to act as producer for Rever. The tracks that comprise this disc aren't exactly "songs" in the usual sense ­ they're drones and chants, a punk-rock take on the minimalism of Steve Reich and Phillip Glass. Larsen's music most resembles Sonic Youth (in their clang-drone mode), Amon Duul I (hippie tribal juju) and Mogwai (contrasts of silence & roar), but what puts them a cut above the pack of noisemongers is their use of Italian folk elements, acoustic instrumentation and a tantalizing sense of reserve. Though it's unlikely these sounds will be used in any ads promoting tourism in Italy, their music has some of the breezes......

  • Larsen | Rever | Review

    ()

    Waterfront Week | Volume 12.5 | Mark Keresmansome of the breezes of the Mediterranean As I've often stated or implied in these pages, Brooklyn is where paths that crisscross the globe intersect. Take this ensemble from Torino, Italy, Larsen ­ this release (their first?) comes to us via Brooklyn's Young God Records, the label started by M. Gira of Swans/Angels of Light/Body Lovers fame. Larsen ­ who are named on the CD but not identified by photographs ­ mailed Gira some CD-Rs of their music, and then asked him to come to Italy to act as producer for Rever. The tracks that comprise this disc aren't exactly "songs" in the usual sense ­ they're drones and chants, a punk-rock take on the minimalism of Steve Reich and Phillip Glass. Larsen's music most resembles Sonic Youth (in their clang-drone mode), Amon Duul I (hippie tribal juju) and Mogwai (contrasts of silence & roar), but what puts them a cut above the pack of noisemongers is their use of Italian folk elements, acoustic instrumentation and a tantalizing sense of reserve. Though it's unlikely these sounds will be used in any ads promoting tourism in Italy, their music has some of the breezes......

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