LENTO (WITH LINGUA FUNGI)

Stefano Musso and Jaakko Padatsu, collaborating for the second time (that I know of), have produced a gem of an album with no less than 78 minutes of fine ambient electronic music. The title song and "Stato di Grazia" are my favorites, but each of the other two songs are equally mesmerizing, equally engaging, and equally meditative.

1. "Lento" (18:34) Water. Waves lapping at the side of a boat. Zither/kantele and heavily treated sustained arpeggi from a synth? a zither? Whatever it is, the way it floats and soars in and out, down and up, in the sonicscape is wonderfully hypnotic; I find myself trapped in its waves feeling as if I am among the flock of birds--or the soul ensouling the flock. The other instruments and sound samples ebb and flow making it seem as if the landscapes beneath the flock are changing with the movement of the flock in the sky over the Earth. (9.5/10)

2. "Karhunpäivä" (17:27) sounds like it's a couple of guys playing with random percussives and simple horns while floating in an open boat in the middle of a harbor. In the fourth minute a low drone makes it sound like a squadron of Allied bombers are flying overhead. By the middle of the fifth minute they've passed and some zithers and other droning musical instruments can be heard--as if the doors to a warfside dance hall just opened up and let their internal music be heard. Great for the accompaniment of a Scandinavian folk story. Finger pianos and small clay drums sneak into the mix in the ninth minute. (8/10)

3. "Giardinaggio interiore" (31:50) Stefano and Jaakko Padatsu with their zithers with some kind of bendable saw-like single note playing "synthesizer" and occasional tuned percussives playing over babeling brook noises in the background. Steady and highly engaging and, of course, hypnotic. (9.5/10)

4. "Stato di Grazia" (11:00) music befitting its title, to be sure! Again water seems to be the "nature sound" provided in the background. The zither play in the foreground is much busier, much more active and interactive, giving the sonic palette a very much monastic feel--as if I were walking through the great halls and rooms of the Great Mosque in Córdoba, Spain. Very etheric and spiritually inspiring. (10/10)

Five stars; another masterpiece of progressive electronic music from the prolific maestro, Stefano Musso, and his collaborators.