ANACLETO VITOLO / HISEKA / GIGI MASIN / FABIO ORSI - a sad song for A.

An ambitious project marks release no. 100 of the catalogue 13, an offshoot of Stefano Gentile's prolific Silentes. Ambitious because it aims to build an emotional journey through what is often called the malady of the century, anxiety, and to do so it combines words, images and sound, relying on the skill of a highly experienced creative core. Behind it all is the label's own patron, here not only as curator but also as a sound creator alongside Giulia Dal Vecchio – who handles the literary component – in the duo Hiskeia. Together they have identified four phases to narrate: Panic, Anxiety, Light and Dream. Each of these, alongside their own, is entrusted to one of Anacleto Vitolo, Gigi Masin and Fabio Orsi.

Panic. Anacleto Vitolo “Precipitando in un vortice di stelle malate”

Michele Borsoi's piano, which returns at the opening of each chapter, marks a melancholy beginning that swiftly slides into a nightmare made of electroacoustic structures designed to recreate the various moods of this first phase. A cold, jagged sound that becomes downright repellent (“Contorsione”), capable of turning into full-blown onomatopoeia as the pulsations advance relentlessly (“Aritmia”). Flashes of calm (“Ricaduta”) interrupt a claustrophobic section that heightens Vitolo's stylistic signature, arriving at ultimate disintegration (“Collasso”).

Anxiety. Hiseka “Affogando in un mare di polvere”

The flow – bolstered by contributions from Vitolo, Orsi and Borsoi – slows down, tending toward an extreme rarefaction bordering on silence. It passes through leaden pauses in which there is room only for an uneasy breath and irregular heartbeats (“S”) or for background ambient echoes in dialogue with sparse dissonant notes (“K”), entrusted with one last distorted passage dominated by glitches and unsettling modulations. Rock bottom is reached.

Light. Gigi Masin “Implodendo in una accecante oscurità”

It falls to luminous synthetic architectures to mark a first point of rebirth, an upward motion translated into sound with Masin's usual skill. Melodic fragments shimmer in a listening space that once again feels welcoming, an oasis moving between amniotic reverbs (“Lumen 1”) and dreamlike expanses (“Lumen 5”), drawing ambient trajectories of remarkable intensity. An endless caress.

Dream. Fabio Orsi “Ascoltando il rumore dei girasoli”

One last intro from Borsoi, and finally a new breath, a horizon of possible happiness. Orsi's electronic currents float lightly, supple harmonic formulations steeped in melancholy romanticism. The sound unfolds fluidly, caresses cosmic swirls (“Act 3”), shifts into ethereal post-rock territory (“Act 4”), turns deeply organic (“Act 6”) and closes with one last pulsing passage brimming with newfound energy.

Certainly ambitious, and carried out with care, the accompanying writings for each phase amplify its impact, as do Gentile's photographic elaborations. All packaged in a handsome limited-edition box set. To let those who feel alone know that they really aren't.

The dream goes on.

A new emotion runs through the veins: a kind of intoxication

titanic, an invulnerable ardor.

Is this perhaps happiness?

Ride the wave of great music

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16/01/2026