Dialoghi del Presente

Released

An undeniably gorgeous album that’s scarred by something more profound, more lonely, Dialoghi Del Presente was the only album released by Luciano Cilio during his short life (he committed suicide at the age of 33). It’s perhaps tempting for some to read a kind of internal ache or existential crisis into the album’s spare, sad compositions, but that doesn’t do justice to the compositional rigour that Cilio brings to the album. Everything here is patiently, intelligently placed; the arrangements give each passage the space needed to blossom. It’s more lyrical than contemporaneous Italian minimalism, and far too understated to fit under any prog rock banner. Silence is the key here, even if that silence is intimated more than realised. You could maybe draw a thread between this and some of the less rigorous compositions from the Wandelweiser universe, though even that’s pushing it. A very singular set of compositions.

Jon Dale

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