MARK HAMN - To The Naked Eye

“Je Déchire L'ongle Aux Criminels” showed, just a year ago, how dear to Mark Hamn (born Francesco Giannico) is a digital research that's anything but self-referential. Adding further substance to this path comes now “To The Naked Eye”, a statement of intent that is not purely musical, given that the dialogue the music (which has in the meantime become more fluid and less abrasive) sets up is not only with itself or with its "producer", but above all with the world that out there is going to ruin, without anyone truly starting to look things in the face, with a "naked eye", free of prejudice.

An ideological superstructure that's certainly demanding, but one that Giannico manages to control with delicate skill, giving us another work of consistent interest, not entirely free of formal flaws, but certainly of notable quality, at least within the Italian landscape.

Absolutely enchanting, as if Eluvium were immersed in a tide of nostalgic wonder, the opening track “Joanna's Song” introduces us to an emotional microcosm that moves furtively and breathlessly, with a depth in constant, balanced rarefaction and glitch nuances that, shedding their synthetic veneer, far from inert matter, immediately reveal the human face of the sonic discourse (“Thinking About Own Liability”, “Academic Disumanity”).

The eye follows (and is followed by) soundscapes in which nature appears disoriented, restless. Echoes, dissonances, noises: everything is steeped in mystery (“Progress”), as if it existed in an even more essential, "underwater" silence (“When Accused Men Become Prosecutors”). Music that sinks into itself, questioning how much beauty nature still holds despite the outrage it has suffered. It works in contact with the world, but as if from a sidereal distance, so much so that even the enveloping roar of the sea seems swallowed up, captured by an endless wait (“An Omelette Century”).

Ultimately, with its constant yet imperceptible shift in perspective, Hamn/Giannico proves to have a clear sense of where he's headed. All that remains now is for him to give us a definitive snapshot of those destinations, since we've already come a long way together...

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21/02/2008