"Will we ever cease to believe in wrong cosmologies?" is the question posed by Italian-Canadian sound artist Dominic Sambucco on his recent EP, Relative Cosmologies.
A composer and filmmaker, Sambucco's work is just as visceral as you might expect and features subtle use of organic sounds (birdsong, fluctuating water, windchimes) alongside more droney and atmospheric sonics. This mix imbues the five tracks on this EP with cinematic scope, inviting the listener on an imagistic exploration of the foundations of our universe, no matter how confounding or spiritually uncomfortable it may become.
Holding degrees in electroacoustic composition from the University of Montréal and in modern guitar from the Music Academy of Rimini, Sambucco's approach is that of a trained ear using his knowledge to break the rules, not bend to them. Notes are assembled with confidence but broken apart and rearranged with the kind of wide-eyed optimism you expect from an artist pushing at the seams of their ability, perpetually balancing a sense of play with more weighty investigations.
After a gentle introduction in "Yuki", "Gennargentu" swirls with arpeggiated synths, hinting at the, however disorienting, rhythmic anomalies that lie in our natural world. Meanwhile, "Udem" muses on the sombre recesses of experience, resembling the sound you might expect to hear when locked in the basement of a large factory, machines clanging and sustaining above you. "Valle" folds in eerily mixed spidery splutters as if regressing to the Cambrian explosion, while the closing track, "Landes", communicates the struggles of life emerging in a darkly static world, searching for something tangible in a sea of the ethereal.
Released on the Texan label Language Instinct, Relative Cosmologies promises a deep and expansive journey for curious listeners.
★★★★