DESTRUKTIVE ACTIONS AFFECT LIVINGS

Whereas the debut album by DAAL seemed to be more oriented around a musical tribute to Pink Floyd's "Saucerful Of Secrets" days, their second release DESTRUKTIVE ACTIONS AFFECT LIVINGS has a more progressive electronic feel. DA-vide Guidoni continues his varying percussive palette in tandem with AL-fio Costa's expansive universe of synthesized sounds but this one is less bizarre to my ears and more calm and spacey. There are long smooth passages that tend to lull the listener into a mediative state and although there are occasional jarring signs of agitation, for the most part this is a more easy listening experience than the debut.

This is truly difficult music to describe. It reminds me of cloud music. Pleasant meandering melodies that have the ability to sustain themselves nice and slowly changing at a snail's pace much like a cloud slowly drifting in the sky and changing shapes and evoking subtle different moods in the process. In addition to the touch of smooth jazz from the horn section provided by Banco's own Alessandro Papotto, there is also a nice touch of sitar, oud and electric fiddle to give more flavors not present on the debut.

This is my kind of weird and eccentric music for sure, but i prefer it a bit less to the debut. One of the things about DAAL that usually brings the album down a notch for me are the vocals. On an otherwise totally spacey and unearthly trip through the sonosphere, the spell is broken by some average vocals. I am not against vocals in this context by any means but i just find THESE vocals a little ordinary in an otherwise unique and blissful experience. DESTRUKTIVE is a great album as background music and also as something you can really get off on the subtle details involved. Highly recommended for progressive electronic lovers who don't mind some varied percussion and myriad instruments in the mix.