FRANCIS M. GRI - APART - REVGLOW - Lontano

Ambient music cannot be improvised. This is proven by the many cases of artists who, drifting between genres, try their hand at such a peculiar form of music without ever managing to find a stylistic signature distinctive enough to make them truly recognizable.

This is not the case with Francis Gri, an artist active for about fifteen years now, who over time has found a sound and a style capable of making his music instantly distinguishable - within the genre's vast catalogue - after just a few seconds of listening. Following various attempts and years of evolution, Gri has crafted a personal synthesis of Brian Eno's emotive ambient, Nils Frahm's minimal pianism, the dilated tempos of Stars Of The Lid and, more rarely, the dreamlike pulses of Lino Capra Vaccina.

"Lontano" is an ambitious work that follows a well-defined narrative arc, taking the form of a long ambient suite. Two tracks serve as opening and closing bookends ("Respiro" and "Quiete"), while at its center lie the six movements of "Due onde", which tell the story of two kindred souls destined never to meet throughout their lives. Like waves of the sea, they are condemned to chase one another without ever touching, except perhaps at the end of their journey, when the cycle of life draws near to dissolution.

The melancholy, enveloping texture, the dilated synths and the piano scattering suspended notes in "Respiro" introduce the thirty-six minutes of the six movements of "Due onde": a long, sorrowful yet not despairing journey, harmonic and emotionally controlled, evoking the endless pursuit of the two waves, destined never to meet, not even for an instant.

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25/02/2026