The more eagle-eyed might recognise Michele Ducci as once comprising half of electronic pioneers M+A (he was the “M”, obviously). With that act he gained a lot of plaudits, wooing the press, along with crowds at Glastonbury and Venice’s Biennale. Unfortunately, that project (nor its follow-up Santii) never reaped the commercial rewards their sound warranted (not that was ever their intention). For his second solo album, Snail In The Clouds, Michele (along with his partner Letizia Mandolesi) has teamed up with renowned producer Simon Milner to produced a fully fledged soundtrack album that’s accompanied by a full-length feature film and finds Michele (and team) at a creative peak, delivering an album that stands as one of this year’s best.
Some music immediately spikes your interest, grabbing you by the lapels and giving you a good shake, creating a sonic experience that’s hard to ignore, and that’s certainly the case with opening track ‘More Than One But Less Than Two’. What makes this song’s power all the more surprising is that it is achieved with just piano and Michele’s voice. Haunting and otherworldly, it entwines itself around the listener like poison ivy and digs roots into the very depths of your psyche. It’s hypnotic in its gentle ululation, lulling us with Michele’s softly spoken vocals and keys that hang like icicles that glisten in winter sun. If he arrived with drums pounding and guitars blazing, ‘More Than One But Less Than Two’ couldn’t be more impactful, and it means that when the song bursts into life at the two-and-a-half minute mark, it’s totally unexpected and hits as if a splash of cold water to a sleeping face. However, when approaching Snail In The Clouds it is wise to always expect the unexpected, and a prime example would be the whistle in the centre of ‘Rain On Me’ (where the hell did that come from?) and the result is a slightly surreal affair with songs such as ‘Don’t Stress Her’ appearing as if from some other, cooler, dimension. Like Ray Davies (after imbibing LSD), Michele has an eye for the minutiae, delivering lyrics that are by turns insightful and impactful, each word another piece of the album’s colourful mosaic.
With none of the album’s ten tracks inhabiting the same sonic space, Snail In The Clouds is a record that’s threaded by its own eclecticism. Yet it has concept gluing it together; it’s just loose enough for the listener to infer their own meaning, but with a focus strong enough to guide us through its labyrinthine structure. While it is perfectly feasible to dip in and out of this album and enjoy the tracks individually, it is best consumed whole to fully appreciate its ebb and flow. Indicative of the album, things come to a surreal stop with ‘Outro’, a track that poses as many questions as it answers, but Snail In The Clouds is one riddle you’ll enjoy unpicking.
- Snail In The Clouds is released via Metronome Records and is available now.
Track List:
- More Than One But Less Than Two
- Rain On Me
- Don’t Stress Her
- Agostos Adieu
- Woman Like You
- Follow The Sun
- Orson Sells (Aria Di Sorbetto)
- Next To Me
- Alabaster
- Outro
