(2021) Marta Del Grandi - Until We Fossilize


Review:
Whereas spent much of the previous decade based in Belgium, where she made her way as a jazz singer, she returned to her native Italy to record her solo debut album, a set of varied indie art songs assembled under the title Until We Fossilize. Heavily inspired by intercontinental travels in the late 2010s, it looks to affiliated histories, stories, and myths that she learned along the way for its lyrical content. The title of the album itself refers to the marine fossils located at the peaks of the Himalayas. Compositional in presentation, and influenced musically by the likes of Ennio Morricone, the soundtracks of David Lynch, exotica, and the ’60s California sound, the album begins with the brief, myth-based “Taller Than His Shadow.” Spacy, mechanical noise and ominous, sustained synths and low strings open the track in advance of Del Grandi’s spoke-sung narrative and improvisatory piano accompaniment (“I couldn’t read his mind, but I could tell/That I would be left under his spell”). It’s followed by a sparse, more tuneful acoustic folk song, “Shy Heart,” about animals trying to flee brush fires in Australia. More concerned with layered harmonies, “Somebody New” backs vocals with strings, haunting synths, and timpani-like drums. Also concerned with endangered animals, it focuses on birds and the threat of windmills and electrical wires. The more atonal, improvisatory “Lullaby Firefly” is still melodic and harmonic at heart, though constant off-pitch mechanical tones hover in the background throughout. Even the closing track, “Totally Fine,” is menacing in tone. It juxtaposes gentle acoustic guitar, piano, and strings with processed percussion and spontaneous noise (“Have you ever seen yourself in the mirror and wondered if it’s actually you or its just how you look?”). Del Grandi’s self-produced merger of acoustic and electronic components was mixed in Brooklyn by Shahzad Ismaily (Bonnie “Prince” Billy, John Zorn, Jóhann Jóhannsson), who recorded drums and synths for the album. Notably strange, subtle, and cerebral, Until We Fossilize ultimately compels with its detached, Lynchian ambiance.





Track Listing:
1.Taller Than His Shadow 01:47
2.Shy Heart 03:26
3.Amethyst 04:04
4.Swim To Me 04:10
5.Somebody New 04:56
6.Lullaby Firefly 03:45
7.Birdsong 03:59
8.Totally Fine 03:28


Media Report:
Genre: art pop, indie-pop
Country: Italy
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits