DISTILLATION OF TIME

I have been listening to a lot of albums this year, mostly Prog rock albums, so let's change it up a bit and review a more electronic album this year. I haven't heard much about Alio Die, I heard he was a pretty good electronic music composer, so I was intrigued when I heard he released a new album this year. I decided to listen to it, and here are my thoughts on it.

The album starts with Il Lievito Dell'anima, or The Yeast of the Soul in English. A 12 minute number that feels very improvisational with an acoustic melody leading the song. It is very atmospheric and calm, and certainly has a layer of relaxing qualities. I really like how the instruments are all random sounding, but to where the randomness actually helps the song out more than it hurts. It is really nice sounding in my opinion, though I do feel like it is too long for how much it repeats its style. I know stuff like Tangerine Dream or Brian Eno often repeats with longer songs, but I wouldn't say to this extent. It definitely wears itself a little thin after 5 or 8 minutes and I just begin to feel like the song should've ended, but it kept going to where I felt a little uninterested with the experience I was having. Overall not a bad song, but definitely not the best.

Next is L'estasi Dei Silenzio, or The Ecstasy of Silence. Similar to the last song, it is an acoustic lead atmospheric track, this time being 8 minutes. Looking at it critically I do think that this song, more so this album, definitely lends itself to the bunch that never changes, or at least changes rarely. While I do admit it is pretty ok when you take into account the type of album this is, I do feel like if you are gonna add more instruments other than synths, you might want to spice things up a little bit. Instead of an acoustic guitar, why not a violin or glockenspiel or theremin. Something to make each song feel unique. This is a good song but it definitely shows the album's issues a bit more prominently.

Next up is Ed Ancor Perdura L'essenza Sonora, aka And Still The Sound Essence Persists. With that title I do believe Alio Die had at least some awareness of the album he made. Again, this is another acoustic led atmospheric song, nothing all too special, but I do find this interesting though. This album is built on acoustic, synths, and no other instruments, giving it a minimalistic feel. With that, maybe we can figure out the themes of this album. Maybe it is the theme of that time repeats itself, maybe that is why the title of the album is called Distillation of Time, because it shows that time is more of a liquid, and like liquid, it is all the same. Maybe these songs show a repeated history with their minimalistic patterns and instrumentation. That may be what Alio Die is trying to teach the listener through these very similar songs, though that's just my theory.

Next is Volo Metafisico, Metaphysical Flight in English. This is an 18 minute track, very similar to the last tracks on here, but with a small twist. There are bells added onto the acoustic and synth mix, and this small addition really brings out a flavor to the track that no others have done before. It gives an almost innocent vibe to the song, like the album rebirthed itself into something similar but something new as well. Maybe it shows more of the themes of repetition, how one's birth or rebirth can be seen as time restarting anew for someone, maybe our lives and the next are different timelines we explore, heck maybe in another timeline I am reviewing a different album that is similar to this one but with a different twist, like how this song is a different twist on the songs prior by adding bells into the mix. That's pretty cool to be honest, but also to be honest this song is a little boring still due to repetitive nature and how long it is, so I can appreciate it on an artistic standpoint but musically it is a bit bare bones.

Lastly is another long song, a 23 minute piece to be exact, titled L'infinito Presente, or The Infinite Present. The title relates heavily back to the themes and ideas of the repetition of history and time. Our present could be one of infinite lines of realities that all are similar but different in their own unique ways. A really cool concept for this album to have, and definitely makes it very unique in how it stands out in terms of many other albums out there, however it still falls a little flat musically. Again, this album loves to repeat itself instrumentally and structurally. Sure all songs sound different enough, but if you blind folded me and asked me to name a song playing from this album, I might guess a totally different song than what would be playing, and that is a problem when you are creating an album, especially an ambient album. It is beautiful artistically but technically it is boring.

This is a boring album, super repetitive, super dragged out, and overall not one I'd listen to again?but artistically it might be one of the most thought provoking pieces of art I have heard. It makes you think about what time truly is and makes you wonder what history will repeat next. This is a beautiful work of art and definitely one I'd say should be appreciated by how it makes you think about time and the world around you.