Alessandro Cortini – Risveglio

A sound that pulls at unnerving soundtrack textures, implies a dislocation from home and wears its analogue chops as if there’s no possible alternative. Risveglio arrives exactly as advertised. The fourth album under Alessandro Cortini’s own moniker was written during the downtime whilst touring, recorded on a triptych of analogue synths, and pivots across sonic motifs vaguely suggestive of that Trent Reznor ambience (amongst many other endeavours, Cortini has been a steady member of Nine Inch Nails for some years).

This is far from the entire story. For Risveglio (‘Awakening’) is a bruising, complex burr of a proposition. Constructed using three 80’s Roland synths (the MC-202, TB-303, and TR-606 – melody, bass and percussion), each track is a mottled gauntlet dropped at the feet of the listener, the bass lines metronomic, delay pedals regularly tipping the material (Rispetto; Lotta) towards ecclesiastical drone. The type of record that John Carpenter would have made if plugged into medieval aesthetics – which is a recommendation.