interview
review
How much of design and how
much of improvised is there in
your songs?
Everything starts from an input
that can come from each of the
four members, this is then deve-
loped through jam sessions from
which the salient moments are ex-
trapolated, from which we then
elaborate a structure following a
sound and dynamic logic, analy-
zing in detail the individual parts.
Everything is cemented by the or-
ganic nature of the live recording.
Can you describe your live gigs?
From internal members we find it
difficult to answer this question,
so we report a testimony of a per-
son who saw our last live, as short
as intense: “Intense and enthral-
ling. Surely and rightly music that
finds its perfect dimension in the
live “. That said, soon there will be
the first concerts to promote the
album, we sincerely hope that the
readers of this interview will hear
what we have to offer.
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Recorded and mixed by Giorgio
Speranza and Matath Yah at the
Busthard Studios in Terni, The Ir-
resistible New Cult of
Selenium is John Mal-
covitch! debut album.
The record seems to take
sounds that start from
very far: Darker Un-
derneath the Surface
grows up in small steps,
even if the entry of the “bass” is
quite substantial, sudden and pre-
cipitated from above. Then, not
unexpectedly, the explosions of
sound arrive. One can think of
Mogwai and other post-rock giants,
for a certain itinerant and narrati-
ve quality of the chosen sounds.
A powerful sense of disorienta-
tion also spreads inside Twice in
a Moment Once in a Lifetime,
with intense and insistent guitar
and drumming. The insistence is a
bit to be missed in a second part
that seems to rest a moment. But
that’s not how it should end: the
tail shots inside the song are very
violent. Even the very long Zenit
grows slowly, betwe-
en drumming and
scintillating resonances.
The progress
of the piece is very ar-
ticulate, the narrative
breaks up, recomposes,
stops, starts and draws
imaginative environ-
ments. Note the electric
tails that develop with
particular visionary skill halfway
through the piece. The final Nadir
decides for desolate views, inclu-
ding desert rock and psychedelic,
which allow the mind to wander,
but armed with loads of restles-
sness. Then the song takes off
towards distant shores, with strong
loads of power and speed. An am-
bitious disc (in a positive sense)
and very broad views of John Mal-
covitch!, which exaggerate their
positions and put their qualities on
the plate. What is most pleasing
about the record is the ability to
keep the tension high from the first
to the last second.
Dischi del Minollo
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