Julian Ross – fadeaway
I did not know a great deal about Julian Ross prior to this release which is a poor oversight on my behalf. Julian Ross, actually an Italian duo, had already recorded an album in 2018 for the Silent Flow label. Now alighting upon Sound In Silence they couldn’t help but fall beneath my gaze.
Julian Ross consists of Ettore Di Roberto (port-royal) and bassist Andrea Comotto from the same town of Genoa. Though Comotto comes from a Blues background you would not guess it from this LP. Fadeaway consists of five, lengthy ambient pieces providing an overall 35 minute experience. The music is gentle with melodic guitar work and keyboards. Little excerpts of spoken word and scratchy glitches give the whole record a grainy feel as though its beauty is hinted at but veiled, out of reach somehow. The ‘through line’ is provided by its five track titles.
Namely:
1. Til
2. Death
3. Do
4. Us
5. Part
Without vocals and my having not (yet) identified any of the speech or film dialogue I’m unable to link the meaning of those titles taken from the marriage liturgy to the music itself. I doubt that it references the underperforming 2017 thriller of the same name. Marriage in general, perhaps, with all of its beauty, serenity and challenges? Love fading away? We can only speculate. However it sounds very impressive, with ideas weaving in and out. ‘Death’ was especially effective. Listening to ‘fadeaway’ sure feels like a journey and one I’ll be happy to undertake again as I really liked this.
As is now de rigueur for Sound In Silence fadeaway is a limited edition run of CDs in handmade artwork. Check out the Bandcamp link provided.