Gianluca Becuzzi – DeepeR [Luce Sia]

Deeper is the final installment in a trilogy of works that includes the two previous collaborations between Gianluca Becuzzi and Massimo Olla (“RedruM” and “TheenD”).

This time the Italian artist works alone, helped only on track 1 and 8 by Cristiano Bocci and his bass, double bass and cello. Nevertheless, the album follows the artistic theme of the previous outputs – a series of covers reworking the original songs and giving them a new life.

We find here tracks from David Bowie, Brian Eno, Coil, Kraftwerk, Einsturzende Neubauten, Faust’O, Death In June, Talking Heads,Elvis Presley, John Cale, The Stooges rendered as droning passages with abrasive distortions and ritualistic chants. This way they become something anew and personal, as in the concept of music as universal culture and ever-evolving experience – and tale.

So, “Warszawa” is a long mantra made of sharp lines, suspended silence, monolithic guitars and sudden melancholies, while “Heartworms” is pure acappella obsession, showing once again the interest of Becuzzi toward the human voice as an instrument, which is sometime even manipulated through the course of the track.

“The Garden” employs field-recordings and plays once again with the power of the voice, staying quite true to the character of Einsturzende Neubauten while adding its own dimension. “Funerale a Praga/The Honour Of Silence” mixes two worlds in a pastiche with rhythmic marches, eerie vocals and emotive downtuned guitars; maybe the best moment on the album.

“We will fall” ends our journey with chanting vocals, hypnotizing effects and cinematic deliveries ending with orchestral tones in a medieval atmosphere.

All in all, “DeepeR” is a coherent expression of Becuzzi more recent interestes and aesthetics: the attention toward the use of voice, the taste for droning guitar and bass, the idea of music as a popular and universal element that can be reshaped, molded, reinterpreted in a never-ending cultural process.

Release date: February 26th, 2022.

Text by: Davide Pappalardo.