Galati

In recent years Roberto Galati has delivered a remarkable series of LPs that merge the idea of extreme journeys immersed in the wildest landscapes with ambient music. The theme of those albums was the sense of awe inspired by a world that unfolds on timescales infinitely longer than a single human life — mountain ranges so vast and ancient that they seem to transcend the very notion of time a human being can grasp. “Dust”, however, deals with the opposite theme: the ultimate disintegration into powder even of what the human mind might perceive as eternal.

The almost physical relationship with the landscape becomes less central here. Layers of sound and distorted drones become the soundtrack of an immensely long yet unstoppable time, one that will inevitably lead to the disappearance even of the most imposing mountain ranges. The focus is no longer the landscape seen from afar in its vast entirety; it is no longer the extremely large that matters, but the extremely small: the stone slowly crumbling until it turns into dust.

This sense of density is reinforced by the mastering of Rafael Anton Irisarri, whose contribution is clearly audible in the depth of the sound and the spaciousness of the textures. Galati’s music also changes, becoming more incisive and immediate. There are no long preambles: the pieces go straight to the point, with sudden synth notes (“Worn By The Wind, Lost To The Ages”) launching the compositions in an almost unexpected way (“Dreams Lay Buried”).

Noise and ghostly hints of melodies coexist before dissolving into notes drifting in the void (“The Ephemeral Grit Of Time”), or reassembling into impenetrable walls of sound (“Millions And Millions Of Years”), or even into melancholic nocturnal melodies (“Enchanted By These Silent Ruins”). This dualism — serenity and chaos — reaches its culmination in the final pairing of “The Ephemeral Grit Of Time” (guitar evoking serenity) and “Storm Of Stones” (an immersion into disintegrating chaos). The sense of disintegration is also present in the sparse guitar notes of “A Moment When Nothing Happens And Everything Is Revealed”, which build a vague atmosphere destined to fade away, submerged by a myriad of electronic dust particles.

Once again, this music becomes a metaphor for something else: a sonic reflection of images capable of evoking timeless emotions.

09/03/2026