
Tomorrow I'll Shoot Myself in the Mouth - Summertime Tragedia [Depressive Illusions - 2013]“Summertime Tragedia” is the third & most sonically varied release from this Italian project- which now sits somewhere between morose & doomed piano playing, grim lo-fi synth texturing, and suicidal 'n' pained ambience that’s all top off with seriously pained & disturbing vocal shrieks, cries & bays. Behind this fairly original & distinctive sounding project is Lorenzo Abbà, who is most known for suicidal walled-noise project Nascitari and running the Italian walled noise label Claustrophilia Records. This CDR release comes in an edition of 33 copies, and the disc comes in a clear DVD case that features doubled sided black & white art work- with a rather grim picture inside of Abbà sitting in front of a piano with a shot gun in his month. Before I get down to what’s on offer on this new disc, I think it’s best to look back on what the projects done thus far. So the projects first release was “Useless”which appeared in 2011 on cult Australian underground noise label Smell The Stench, this first CDR release consisted five untitled tracks that mixed together discordant piano runs, doom piano pounds ‘n’ bangs with all manner of deeply troubled shrieks, wails, screams and muffled almost black metal like vocalising. I very much enjoyed this first release, and still think it stands a refreshing & original take on a suicidal themed sound. Next we had 2012’s “Sunday”, and once again this was another CDR release, and it featured six tracks. This time the sound was a mix of rather shapeless/tuneless doomed piano elements, lo-fi crash drum beats & of course those pained vocals. Sadly I found this second release lacked variation, atmosphere & mainly of the tracks seemed shapeless & dull. So that brings us up-to-date, and “Summertime Tragedia”- this new album features six tracks in all, and these tracks last between three & half to just over the eight minute mark. The tracks utilize a mix of lo-fi/ cheap keyboards ‘n’ drum machine rhythms, piano, guitar, violin, and of course those distinctive vocal elements which this time move from being pained & hushed, all the way up to buzzing & noisily disturbing. And these six tracks move from the mixing together shuffling 'n' sadly jauntily pre-set drum machine rhythms, wavering ‘n’ morose redimenterty suicidal synth, and buried shrieks & screams. Onto doomed & moody piano marchers that are weaved with pained whispered & shrieked vocals. Through to tracks that start out in a mix of hazed & wonky march rhythms & synth textures that are weaved with bayed & screamed vocals, before descending into melting 'n' wonky French easy listening waltz. Or mixes of plaintive & stark acoustic guitar, wondering & forlorn keyboards, and vein bulging/ deeply pained vocals. So to sum-up “Summertime Tragedia” takes the best elements from the first two releases, mixers them together then adds in a few new sonic elements to create a consistent & rewarding release that some-how mangers to be both disturbing/ suicidal, but also quirky creative & at times bizarrely memorable too.      Roger Batty
|