A Brief Review Of The New Album From Stefano Pilia Of Il Sogno Del Marinaio (Featuring David Grubbs)

Stefano Pilia was part of that Il Sogno Del Marinaio project with Mike Watt a few years ago and the band made a few great records. The Italian guitarist is now back with an even bolder work, the stark In Girum Imus Nocte Et Consumimur Igni, out next week on Die Schachtel. The album features music that's minimalist, but Pilia imbues this material with enough heart and soul to make even a hesitant listener a fan of this risk-taking record.

In Girum Imus Nocte Et Consumimur Igni is translated as "We turn round in the night and, behold, we are consumed by fire", but the fiery bits here are largely drawn-out ones. Opener "Caduta" is fairly light and simple, while "In Girum Imus Nocte" is pulsing elegance. Rodrigo D’Erasmo (Gangs of New York, Afterhours) shows up on violin on "Sirena" while David Grubbs (Codeine, Gastr del Sol, The Red Krayola) plays piano on "Melusina", the final cut here. And each number with those guests is the summation of each side of the record, a sort of coalescing of the ambient and starkly beautiful passages on earlier tracks. Frankly, the remarkable thing here is how Stefano Pilia does so much with so little, the music sprawling out at a somewhat languid pace, Pilia's deliberateness as a musician a thing that has a surgeon's precision about it.

In Girum Imus Nocte Et Consumimur Igni is out next week on Die Schachtel.

More details on Stefano Pilia via his official Facebook page.

[Photo: Uncredited Facebook picture]