Giuseppe Ielasi — Gesine
Italian guitarist and electronic musician Ielasi has released a couple of solo albums, a few improve music CD’s with other musicians, as well as having collaborated with Dean Roberts and Radu Malfati. He is also the owner of Fringes Recordings, a label and distribution outlet.
His label is aptly titled: his music is not likely to be played on FM radios, even in the few specialized shows one can find. However, Gesine is by no means a difficult album to listen to although the elaboration of the composition was probably not the simplest thing ever.
The main two instruments are guitar and percussion. The guitar tracks are often multi-tracked, although it is not really obvious, and the percussive elements are in most cases quite discreet. Ielasi’s playing on Gesine is very subdued, with strong folk “perfumes”, although never linear enough to fall into the folk-song category.
This is a sort of semi-abstract folk music, with drones and ambient music as an occasional “partner”. Ielasi creates here some very powerful atmosphere, which makes a lasting impression in the listener’s brain.