Mingle – “Static” – [Kvitnu Records]

lexi glass   11/14/2016   A Library, CD

It seems like we can’t get enough from Ukraine’s Kvitnu lately – here’s another to scratch the (gl)itch. Mingle is Andrea Gastaldello, an Italian composer and multi-instrumentalist. He describes this 2015 release as an “introspective journey, highly melancholy,” my idea of a good time. Piano and guitar sounds are blurred and warped into a ambient metallic glow, while muted beats add texture on some tracks – at times tense (T3, T8), staticky (T3, T4, T5), or barely there (T2, T6, T7, T9, T11). Everything is dialed in just right – it’s minimal but not boring, moving but not melodramatic – so as to produce a dark, paranoid beauty.

Check out Mingle’s collaborations with noise artist Deison (filed under Deison & Mingle) in our library.