NEVE SPORCA

Italian project INSONAR revolves around the talents of vocalist Claudio Milano and instrumentalist Marco Tuppa. They recorded material with a number of different musicians from 2010 to 2013, which resulted in the double album "L'Enfant et le M'nure" that was released in 2013. "Neve Sporca" is a limited edition production that features live and unreleased tracks recorded in the same period, mostly made available to a select few fans and reviewers if I have understood matters correctly.

The original double album was, basically, a project that revolved around electronics and vocals that were used to create electronic music of a dampened and ambient nature, yet experimental in approach and execution. To some extent a production that explored the different dynamics one might create and explore when vocals and electronics meet. "Neve Sporca", obviously, can be described in pretty much the same manner.

Claudio Milano is an expressive vocalist, and his voice does take the center stage in most of these creations. From dark, brooding and ominous through the elegant and harmonic to the high pitched, dissonant and disturbing. He has a pitch perfect control of his voice, a keen sense of dramatics and the ability to instantly shift from one extreme delivery to the other. The manner in which he can use his voice to provide more or less disturbing effects just as easy as delivering beautiful, rich and harmonic vocals is another feature that gives the material he contributes to a distinct edge, mood and atmosphere.

Careful drones, minimalistic, sparse arrangements of a more or less experimental nature and combinations of those is the foundation Milano's voice plays upon, as a supplemental feature, a contrasting feature or as an integral part of a tightly woven arrangement. In some cases featuring all of those. Sometimes in a thrilling, hypnotic manner, on other occasions in a manner a tad too experimental to really hit home with my own personal taste in music. This is a production that merits to be described as art rather than entertainment, and as all quality works of art this one does challenge the listener on some level or other, and while most people with an interest in music of this kind will find material they will enjoy immensely most people will also encounter material that won't engage all that much. Which, I guess, should be regarded as a positive quality of this production: That it will challenge the listener, because the music hasn't been made to please a certain audience but rather as a work of art where the artists involved wants to explore a certain mood, atmosphere or approach without trying to make it fit one or more specified audiences.

If you ever come across this production there are many fine moments to be enjoyed. Personally I found both of the instrumental tracks to be among the highlights, compositions that showcase the skills of instrumentalist Marco Tuppa in terms of crafting enthralling soundscapes, highly enjoyable constructions in their own right. But the most interesting occasions are when the vocals of Milano and the music of Tuppa and the various additional contributors manage to come together in what sounds like perfect combinations according to my tastes, when the vocals and instruments together crafts unique soundscapes where they feed of the dynamics of each other. Those moments are magical and goosebumps-inducing.

As per standard procedure when it comes to just about everything I've heard that feature the talents of Claudio Milano, this is an album that comes with a recommendation to those who still regard music as an art, and in this case with a specific mention to those who enjoy sparse and minimalistic composition that explore some the differences, similarities and capabilities of the human voice and electronic instruments combined. In an experimental manner, without going to the extremes very often, more often than not fairly accessible in fact.