Anyone who has ever strolled along a Baltic beach is unlikely to associate seagulls with grace – let alone states of perfect carefreeness. These birds are loud, restless and quick to turn aggressive at the faintest prospect of food. With notes from the air, Ciro Vitiello sets out to rehabilitate the reputation of these clamorous gluttons, consistently drawing on music’s more beautiful registers. Punk and rock once shed much of their grime when they acquired the prefix “post”, developing an opaque sheen in the process. The drivers of that shift – soapy guitars, delicate vocals, dramatic deceleration – are deployed here to striking effect by the Italian musician.
One of the central pieces, »The Lighthouse Ghost«, opens with Dream-Pop guitar chords by guest contributor Heith, of the kind recently repopularised by Scandinavian acts such as ML Buch or Astrid Sonne. The voice of guest vocalist Martyna Basta hovers in the background above the swell of the sea before, following portentous violin passages, the drums enter – and with them a sense of weightlessness. Over the course of the album, a wide range of instruments comes into play, all in the service of creating atmospheres rather than clearly defined structures. The advance single »+days«, again featuring Heith, adheres most closely to a conventional song scheme. Otherwise, the gaze is directed resolutely towards the horizon – using every available means to transform music into longing. In »Slices Of Wind«, even an accordion appears.
