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Other Albums | Merchandise | Reviews

Deconsecrated and Pure

2012 | Projekt | PRO00270

CD in 6-panel digpak

Regular Price: $16.98
Online Sale Price! $13.98

Tracks:

1 Layers of Faith | MP3 Clip
2 Obliterated Alcove | MP3 Clip '
3 Peel Away This Mortal Coil
4 Cerulean Facade | MP3 Clip
5 De-altared | MP3 Clip

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Deconsecrated and Pure is an evocative liturgy from the realm where electronic music meets acoustic drones, found objects, sacral voices and field recordings.

Italian ambient-acoustic sonic sculptor Stefano Musso returns for his first solo Alio Die release on Projekt in 20 years. Don't get the idea he's been on vacation, however! Since 1992 he has released 37 collaborative CDs and 19 solo CDs; this makes Deconsecrated and Pure Alio Die's 20th solo release! Welcome back!

The processed traditional instruments and natural textures float alongside rich electro-organic drones, creating a perfect introspective soundtrack with a medieval and sacral atmosphere. Serene and meditative textures combine in a chorus of circular and interwoven sounds, reflecting the harmony of the cosmos as an opus of inner stillness.

Processed and layered into the mix are vocal pieces by Claudio Merulo. The work of this 16th century Venetian Renaissance composer was performed by Paolo Tognon and Quoniam Ensemble di Dulciane and De Labyrintho Ensemble Della Rinascenza, creating the essence of a historical religious feel. The gradual evolution of the arrangements create a strong impression that the listener has been carried across time and space. Elements such as sonically-tampered Middle East horns (The dulciana, a sort of early basoon/oboe), solemn atmospheres of the courts of the Italian Renaissance, and evocative soundscapes cosmic and ethereal combine for holiness and trascendence.

To create this work, Stefano selected fragments of sessions recorded with the acoustic instruments, modifying them through multi-layered loops. Pitch and frequencies changed, effects were added, other sound objects were played and processed into the mix. This was further augmented with the electronics and field recordings adding more layers metamorphosizing the whole atmosphere into a deep trance mood. What makes Alio Die's compositions glow is the attention to detail and fluidity; something from the background floats to the foreground as it is slowly modified, or perhaps it's the gentle addition of a bagpipe or stringed instruments. It all intertwines through constant modulation, addition of atmospheric sounds, and re-contextualization.

Marvelously floating and hauntingly expressive, Deconsecrated and Pure feels like a liturgical poem within an archaic mausoleum distorted by time.

BIO:

Alio Die is the name of Stefano Musso's shimmering, expansive dronescaping project. Musso's work began in electro-acoustic research and he started to work under the name Alio Die in 1989. He is also known for his fruitful collaboration with artists such as Robert Rich, Vidna Obmana, Mathias Grassow and others. His personal musical signature is a hybrid between sonic sonorous soundscapes and acoustic mysticism. A poignant and ecstatic journey of sounds.

  • Second solo album on Projekt in 20 years
  • Four previous collaborative releases on Projekt
  • 56th release from Alio Die!

  • A review from :
    Difficile rendere a parole la magia che questo autore milanese sa infondere alla musica ormai da tanti anni a questa parte. Stefano Musso, in arte Alio Die, ci regala l'ennesimo album superiore all'interno di una carriera costellata da tante produzioni sempre all'insegna di un gusto raro e singolare, capace di elevarsi al di sopra di generi e classificazioni varie. I cinque brani dell'album sono costruiti attraverso una stratificazione sonora che mescola sonorità elettroniche e classiche, tra cui anche pezzi vocali scritti dall'autore veneziano del XVI secolo Claudio Merulo, ed interpretati per l'occasione da Paolo Tognon e l'Ensemble di dulciane Quoniam. Gli echi trasmessi sono molteplici: dalla space-ambient alla musica rinascimentale, dalla drones-minimal alla new age e alla musica sacra. "Deconsacrated And Pure" imbastisce atmosfere meditative trasportandoci in mondi antichi, ma anche in spazi mentali ignoti; i toni prolungati trasmettono una distensione mentale e un rilassamento cercati da parecchi autori, ma di rado raggiunti con tale intensità. In questo universo mistico, ogni piccolo elemento trova la sua collocazione e nulla è lasciato al caso. I piccoli rintocchi ricavati da oggetti, i campionamenti, le voci, gli strumenti immersi nei tappeti di synth concorrono alla creazione di un mosaico immenso e di un'architettura che sa toccare le corde dell'anima. Il sound rimane in linea anche con le produzioni ambient della stessa Projekt (alla sua seconda collaborazione con Alio Die), ma Stefano si colloca su livelli decisamente più raffinati e personali. Evocativo l'artwork ed elegante la confezione in digipak su sei pannelli. Per chi cerca progetti che sanno distinguersi con qualità. Rating: 8 out of 10 -Michele Viali

    A review from allmusic.com:
    Stefano Musso's continuing work seems to be reaching a moment perfectly timed for him as much as fellow travelers like Steve Roach and Vidna Obmana, among others -- if new age as such gained new resonance in the 2010s, little surprise perhaps that Alio Die's explorations in texture and resonance should suddenly sound right at the center of a shift. The work on his early 2012 Deconsecrated and Pure has a focus suggested by song and album titles about a simultaneous stripping away of organized religious trappings and an implied spiritual purity gained as a result -- it's suggested rather than determined by direct lyrical reference, but the thematic emphasis has interest given the music presented. The opening "Layers of Faith" immediately hits church organ tones out of the gate but shifts into a gentler free-floating combination of lighter tones, which while familiar feels more resonating given the context of title and language, a reaching beyond from one spiritual state to another. Similarly, the slow layering of "Obliterated Alcove" again bespeaks resonance, a kind of cyclical loop around a center point that ebbs and flows with both wordless vocal (courtesy of guest singer Paolo Tognon) and musical elements, an understated peace, while the second half of the song brings the vocal elements forward more, a gentle transposition after a pause. The progression of the album through songs like "Cerulean Facade" and "De-altered" continues the whole feeling, in agreeable and sometimes quite moving fashion.

    A review from ambientblog.net:

    For those not very fond of 'ambient' music, the sheer productivity and release rate of some of the artists can lead to sarcastic jokes about how easy it must be to create this "kind of music". But numbers are often deceiving: some of these prolific artists manage to produce a surprising variety of well-constructed music that manage to surprise with almost every new release.

    Alio Die (Stefano Russo, Italy) definitely is one of those artists. At the time I found out about Deconsecrated and Pure (which was released in march 2012, as his 56th release!), at least two new titles have been added to his impressive discography . But just forget that release rate and focus on this very album.

    Deconsecrated and Pure may be 'ambient' in nature, but it has the sound and beauty of mediaeval polyphonic music. There is a perfect balance of the acoustic parts (sampled from vocal pieces by 16th century Venetian Renaissance composer Claudio Merulo ), the wind instruments ("sonically-tampered" Middle-East horns like the dulciana ), and the clever, subtly placed electronic accents and field recording fragments.

    The multi-layered loops do not feel like loops, because of their careful polyphonic timing and changes in pitch. This especially makes the first two tracks ("Layers of Faith" and "Obliterated Alcove") feel like they could have been an existing composition, performed by an orchestra and whoir, with additional electronics. here is a fascinating moment in "Obliterated Alcove", when the loops seem to retreat to the background, to make room to present the vocal main theme (ca. 6 minutes in the track presented below). These two opening tracks will probably also appeal to listeners not specifally interested in "electronic music". But from there, in the latter half of this album, Stefano Russo ventures into a more abstract approach to the basic material. The music still has obvious references to the original material, but there is some dissonance creeping in. It feels like you're slowly drifting out of touch with reality.

    If you want comparisons, I'd say there are references to music from Arvo Pärt, Biosphere and a little bit of William Basinski on the side. But it's not often you'll come across a distinctly different sound like this. The risk of being this prolific is that some works may easily be missed. Please do yourself a favour and do not make that mistake with Deconsecrated and Pure!


    A review from Brutal Resonance:
    It is a really hot summer outside my home, and during this pure hell I need some refreshment not only physical, but also mental and emotional. That's why I take a new album of Alio Die in search for this kind of relief. Without a doubt, Stefano Musso, the man behind Alio Die, became one of the most significant names on ambient scene during almost 25 years of his career. With enormous amount of both solo albums and different collaborations, he brought his own vision of the musical experience from surrounding world. And this time it's Stefano's 20th album which lands into my hands to fill few hours of relaxation with a background support.

    On Deconsecrated and Pure Alio Die introduces a totally airy atmosphere of almost meditative origin. A combination of field recordings with sonic soundscapes exists in all 5 long tracks. The first of them is "Layers of Faith", where different natural sounds like water splashing, wind blowing and others are carved into the texture of the wide ambiance created by a loopy background melody as light as a very thin cloud driven by gentle breath of nature. This melody is circling and flowing out of the speakers forcing the air around to tinkle with the bells of primal energy. The constant stream of sound brings the second track "Obliterated Alcove", where the choral voices enter the scene to add more sacral feeling into the music, which again stays very light and airy. The vocal parts are processed from the compositions of Claudio Merulo, 16th century Venetian Renaissance composer, and were performed by Paolo Tognon and Quoniam Ensemble di Dulciane and De Labyrintho Ensemble Della Rinascenza; they contribute a little bit of grief into the sonic layers of this track together with a slight touch of liturgy.

    "Peel Away this Mortal Coil" is a very deep exploration of wide plains of imagination to drown inside pure lake of feelings, to remove all the negativism and dirt of everyday constant race after the frail goods. And only when you peel away your mortal coil, you can reach the shores of sedation and find piece with yourself and divine. In "Cerulean Fasade" the message is clear again, pushed towards relaxation and meditation, where the sound movement is slow, fool of wide colors, and an able paint brush creates an aquarelle of light emotions.

    Just in time, when I already thought that I could not dive deeper, comes the final composition called "De-Altared". Few string instruments added here, some bell clicking and ticking, natural sounds are all around, viscous melody covers me with its cerement and guides into the very depth of lethargy.

    As the conclusion, the new album from Alio Die is a good example of what ambient music can be when it reaches the highest levels of creativity. Even without being something innovative, this record presents a lot of delights to ambient fans, bringing a solid meditative mood combined with reflections of Stefano's personal abstract and mysterious experience. Without a doubt, Alio Die proves once again its credibility of being one of the most recognizable and talented names at ambient scene for the past 20 years. Rating: 8/10 -Andrew


    A review from Darkroom:
    Difficile rendere a parole la magia che questo autore milanese sa infondere alla musica ormai da tanti anni a questa parte. Stefano Musso, in arte Alio Die, ci regala l'ennesimo album superiore all'interno di una carriera costellata da tante produzioni sempre all'insegna di un gusto raro e singolare, capace di elevarsi al di sopra di generi e classificazioni varie. I cinque brani dell'album sono costruiti attraverso una stratificazione sonora che mescola sonorità elettroniche e classiche, tra cui anche pezzi vocali scritti dall'autore veneziano del XVI secolo Claudio Merulo, ed interpretati per l'occasione da Paolo Tognon e l'Ensemble di dulciane Quoniam. Gli echi trasmessi sono molteplici: dalla space-ambient alla musica rinascimentale, dalla drones-minimal alla new age e alla musica sacra. "Deconsacrated And Pure" imbastisce atmosfere meditative trasportandoci in mondi antichi, ma anche in spazi mentali ignoti; i toni prolungati trasmettono una distensione mentale e un rilassamento cercati da parecchi autori, ma di rado raggiunti con tale intensità. In questo universo mistico, ogni piccolo elemento trova la sua collocazione e nulla è lasciato al caso. I piccoli rintocchi ricavati da oggetti, i campionamenti, le voci, gli strumenti immersi nei tappeti di synth concorrono alla creazione di un mosaico immenso e di un'architettura che sa toccare le corde dell'anima. Il sound rimane in linea anche con le produzioni ambient della stessa Projekt (alla sua seconda collaborazione con Alio Die), ma Stefano si colloca su livelli decisamente più raffinati e personali. Evocativo l'artwork ed elegante la confezione in digipak su sei pannelli. Per chi cerca progetti che sanno distinguersi con qualità. Rating: 8 out of 10 -Michele Viali

    A review from Hypnagogue:
    Lush with sacred music overtones and lightly wound with shadow, Alio Die’s new release, Deconsecrated and Pure, establishes a sense of meditative reverence from its first notes to create an extremely intimate ambient space. A hymnal quality takes over from the start in “Layers of Faith.” Woodwind sounds take the lead here as Alio Die (aka Stefano Musso) builds his way toward a wonderful sonic density. Light touches of field recordings help Musso carve out a sacred grove for the listener, a very personal cloister for hushed reflection. The second track, “Obliterated Alcove,” gets a lift from vocal samples. Musso takes recordings of work by 16th century Venetian Renaissance composer Claudio Merulo, performed by Paolo Tognon and the Quoniam Ensemble di Dulciane and De Labyrintho Ensemble Della Rinascenza, and layers them over his droning loops. His arrangement, apparently giving each voice in this choir its own personal phrase, makes each feel like a piece of a quite larger whole, the segments falling apart and coming together in a rich, fragmented prayer. Near the six-minute mark, Musso pulls back the drones and lets the voices take the forefront. This is where the disc elevates to its strongest sense of the sacred, riding on that largely unprocessed presence. Again, as the field recording of a stream (or rain? hard to say) is subtly dovetailed into the mix, the atmosphere of the piece is again heightened. With “Peel Away This Mortal Coil,” Musso introduces a clattering bit of dissonance into the mix, playing with the contrast of metallic collisions, twists of key-searching woodwinds and his base drones. It’s a busy track, but the chaos is obviously controlled. Nothing overwhelms; there’s a tenuous chemistry happening between elements, and the dissonance just skirts the edge of feeling too random. What makes this work even more is that it flows into the softer space of “Cerulean Flow.” This is my favorite stretch of the disc, ten minutes spent wrapped in concentric coils of sound. There is a warmth to the voice here that may be amplified just a bit from its coming on the heels of “…Mortal Coil.”–but it’s a very personal warmth, regardless. Musso closes the disc with “De-Altared,” again giving over to threads that initially compete and jar one another. The woodwinds honk rather than sing; wayward field sounds poke out of the sound; the mass feels like it’s trying to find its identity–but again, within the tangle a calming sense of near-order surfaces. There are so many intricate layers at work, it’s a pleasure to get lost in the interplay. This is the longest track on the disc, and Musso carefully plays with the balance of sound and emotion, wildness and reserve.

    Clearly, Deconsecrated and Pure is a deeply engaging piece of work. Musso’s use of processed acoustic instruments–notably the dulciana, a type of oboe–embeds an organic depth in the flow. While they retain an ambient texture, there’s a notable solidity to their tones that rises up in spots. The field recordings and even gentle tapping on metal, very earthy, present sounds, are gingerly placed as concrete elements in the otherwise empyrean atmospheres Musso creates. This is the product of a master at work. Listen to it many times over; there’s a lot to hear, all worth the effort of listening closely.


    A review from igloomag.com:

    Despite all these layers, the tone is light as air and the air is illuminated with dazzling rays of light. The pleasant cadences that caress the ear belie the meticulous arrangement Musso invests in his five mystery tableaux—his detailed construction of repeating, slowly shapeshifting motifs is nothing short of miraculous.

    Stefano Musso has been retro-soundscaping the late Middle Ages and dawn of the Renaissance all by himself, especially in the last few years with works such as Il Giardino Ermeneutico, La Sala Dei Cristalli and Horas Tibi Serenas. In a cosmology that stemmed back to the ancient Greeks, the Medieval earth nestled at the very centre, as a perfectly-proportioned universe revolved gently around it. According to this perception, the heavens were immutable and harmonious while the earth was transient and corruptable. Thus mankind strove to create works of great beauty and symmetry to bring order to the world, and to please God by doing so.

    Recordinig for nearly a quarter-century under the name Alio Die, few electronic composers work as bewitchingly with acoustic sound sources as Musso. Here he has processed and layered vocal pieces by 16th century Venetian composer Claudio Merulo as performed by the Quoniam Ensemble di Dulciane and De Labyrintho Ensemble Della Rinascenza. Fragments of choir song and small early-music ensemble both rich and pellucid metamorphose from straightforward recording to abstract clouds of unknowing as they are treated, looped and looped again, and augmented with Musso’s electronics and field recordings.

    Despite all these layers, the tone is light as air and the air is illuminated with dazzling rays of light. The pleasant cadences that caress the ear belie the meticulous arrangement Musso invests in his five mystery tableaux—his detailed construction of repeating, slowly shapeshifting motifs is nothing short of miraculous. The middle track, “Peel Away This Mortal Coil,” is the earthiest piece, full of reeds and pipes and donkey bells, perhaps one of those day-long village fests of fools and misrule.

    Why deconsecrated and pure? Maybe Alio Die, our contemporary, turns the ancient worldview upside-down, having embraced as we have the evidence that the heavens roil and constantly expand, while it is we puny humans who are capable of creating purity and symmetry out of our robust, if not individually eternal, mortality.


    A review from Musique Machine:
    Deconsecrated and Pure offers up a heady & spiritual fix of bright, religious, renaissance & medieval tinged atmospheric ambient music. This is the first solo release on Projekt from Italian ambient-acoustic sculptor Stefano Musso in some twenty years, through he has been active in-between this & his last solo release putting out all manner of collaborations.

    The albums digipak artwork features pictures of a semi derelict looking monastery or temple. And really these images are deeply apt as all the five tracks on offer here feel deeply of centuries of religious devotion, the feeling of ancient pilgrimages & a general feeling of timeless religious peace, tranquility and wonder. Musso utilizes a mixture choral samples, Middle East horns, acoustic instrumentation- such as flutes, wind chimes & vibes, plus a subtle use of field recording. These elements he blends into scared, rising & warming ambient sound scapes & electro-organic drone-scapes, which seem to slowly dart, melt & glow around one ears.

    Through there are quite a few elements here that could suggest new age type ambient fluffiness & twee sonic boredom, thankfully Musso manages to side step all of those pitfalls to create an album that feels out of time, yet alive with warming & harmonic spiritual richness.

    So if you’re after bright, yet hazy & heady ambient music with a distinctive religious grounding- you’ll find a lot to savor here. But if you're after darker more chilling ambience it’s best to look some place else. -Roger Batty


    A review from Ondarock:
    Fra i tanti seguaci della corrente più mistica dell'ambient elettronico, Stefano Musso aka Alio Die è uno dei più prolifici, con i suoi circa cinquanta album dal 1990 a oggi e l'enorme numero di collaborazioni con gli esponenti più importanti della scena stessa (che annovera, fra gli altri, Vidna Obmana e Robert Rich). Forse il maggior esponente italiano del genere, Alio Die - look da metallaro, scultore di busti arcani e senza tempo, in grado di incorporare elementi gotici e folk - è da ormai vent'anni uno dei principali artisti del genere sotto Projekt Records che, dopo aver dato vita a gran parte della scena darkwave americana e non, ha espanso i propri orizzonti anche alle concezioni più astratte dell'oscurità in musica.

    Comprensibile, vista l'estrema prolificità del personaggio, il timore che dopo aver cavalcato per anni l'onda cosmico-ambientale '80 nella sua incarnazione maggiormente new age, in parte spentasi con il sopraggiungere dell'ambient di derivazione dronica, le ultime (numerosissime) release di Alio Die possano essere almeno in parte esercizi di stile su un cliché piuttosto facile da ricalcare. Ma proprio per via di questa facilità, fin troppo in grado di tramutarsi in impossibilità di evoluzione, l'elemento primo di giudizio di un'opera inserita in tale filone è la capacità di emozionare, di dar luogo a suggestioni ed evocazioni. E, se Alio Die è da sempre un maestro in quest'arte, con "Deconsecrated And Pure" riesce a centrare probabilmente il capolavoro di una carriera, l'apice massimo di equilibrio tra le fonti del suo sound e la capacità di trasmissione della sua musica.

    Cinque lunghi brani, cinque strade originate da un unico centro e viaggianti verso orizzonti diversi, un labirinto di arcane profezie e sogni moderni, un caleidoscopio di civiltà e costumi, un oceano dalle distanze profonde. Sconsacrato e puro, il profano che purifica la propria anima slegandosi dal sacro, pur non perdendo la caratura onirica di quest'ultimo. Mondi paralleli, distanti ma sulla stessa orbita. "Deconsecrated And Pure" è una scultura sonora che raggiunge e oltrepassa gli orizzonti dell'ambient stessa, toccandone ogni confine, tracciando coordinate difficilmente capaci di inventare, ma in grado di raggiungere una carica emotiva che ha ben pochi precedenti.

    E così, "Layers Of Faith" è l'inchino di un guru del dark-ambient alle eteree distese sintetiche portate in trionfo dapprima da Tim Clark e Michael Amerlan, poi cavalcate da nomi come Thom Brennan e Max Corbacho. "Dronica" nell'incedere ma non nell'estetica, sentimentale ma scenicamente glaciale. Il non-legame tra sacro e profano è il tema di "Obliterated Arcove": come può suonare la musica sacra se estratta dal suo contesto principe? È la ricerca verso la quale opta il brano, memore di quanto già sperimentato in passato da fin troppi nomi, non ultimo dei quali il John Foxx del capolavoro "My Lost City", e l'arrivo è fra i lidi di una potenza spirituale persino maggiore, pura per davvero. Un coro che è tutto fuorché gregoriano, sconsacrato proprio come nel titolo alla base dell'album, impegnato in vocalizzi arcaici tra ancestrali costellazioni elettroniche. L'omaggio alle nuove tendenze arriva con "Peel Away This Mortal Coil", nella quale sostrati di tastiere lievemente distratte da vibrazioni quasi impercettibili ricalcano i tappeti in esondazione del miglior Eluvium e i flussi languidi di Pan American. Poi, una virata verso fondali perduti, mondi sublunari e metafisici, melodie che cullano il vuoto in "Cerulean Facade", in direzione di una simbiosi con i linguaggi della malinconia di Jeff Grienke e Rudy Adrian. E infine, a concludere un viaggio che pare non poter finire, la quiete vitale di un abbraccio artico mai parso così caldo, nella desolazione di un vuoto mai così pieno di spunti, "De-Altared" che sintetizza vent'anni di ricerca - mistico trattato di legame tra immagine e musica, tra ambiente e suono circostante.

    Dopo quasi due decadi di incessante attività, una ricerca tra misticismo, oscurità, sacro e profano, Alio Die riesce nella difficile impresa di riassumere in un solo album i risultati di un'intera scena musicale. E non lo fa certo attraverso la ricerca della perfetta formalità (come per esempio riuscì a Brian Eno in "Music For Airports"), ma andando a concentrarsi interamente sulla tipologia di emozioni intrinseche dell'elemento sonoro, riuscendo così a iniettare la sua musica evocativa all'interno delle immagini stesse, formando un legame per sua stessa definizione inseparabile. Ovvero, quel che pare scontato sia elemento proprio di ogni release ambient, ma che è in realtà a suffragio di un'élite piuttosto risicata, della quale lascia almeno una punta d'orgoglio sapere faccia parte anche un italiano. Rating: 8 out of 10


    A review from Sonic Curiosity:
    This CD from 2012 offers 66 minutes of sacred ambient music. Alio Die is Italian sonic sculptor Stefano Musso, who plays drones, loops, glass, metals and field recordings.

    The electronics are mainly textural. Drones are crafted into luxurious tonalities that waft on breezes of their own self-generation. These elongated pulsations interweave with each other, producing a pacific flow of delicate beauty. The result is a vaporous environment of soft sonic definition which expands to seemingly fill the universe. A percentage of these textures are very reminiscent of the tones produced by caressed wine glasses, an eerie resonance brimming with heavenly character.

    Medieval chorales enhance the music's overall reverence, bestowing a celestial mood intended to uplift as they lull. Incidental sounds (chains, bells, rattled bottles and twinkling glass) serve as haunting punctuations immersed within the airy mix.

    These compositions transform atmospheric auralscapes devoted to assisting the human psyche to achieve a state of introspection wherein mankind can catch a glimpse of God's handiwork in the world around us. While chiefly harmonic in nature, melodic traces inject the drones with an attractive subliminal presence.


    Entrare nei grandi santuari della religiosità cristiana (è però estendibile a templi di altri culti) vuol dire assimilarne l’energia, attraversarne il velo invisibile che è sulla linea che demarca la porta d’ingresso con l’ambiente esterno ed il tempio, un confine forse custodito dagli angeli, dalle anime, da tutta l’energia che nei secoli si è accumulata tra devozioni, credi, preghiere.
    Oltrepassare quel confine è una scelta, quella di varcare una porta spazio/tempo rivestita d’aura, iridescente, non sempre invisibile se osservate la soglia sulla linea di demarcazione tra il mondo, laico, e la spiritualità.
    Le cinque tracce di “Deconsacrated And Pure” hanno il valore dell’omaggio inviolabile di Alio Die alle strutture della religiosità antica, gotica e romanica, medievale e monacale: lui eremita del suono che dedica ad anacoreti dello spirito musica per angeli di carne, Stefano Musso asceta del laptop in tanti progetti, collaborazioni, installazioni, ha venerato il trascendente con la musica.
    Seconda volta, solitario, in Projekt: Sam Rosenthal non nega che il lato ‘ambient’ della label è per lui motivo di fiducia e circondarsi dei migliori musicisti del relax meditativo, dello spiritual/soundscape, è fonte d’orgoglio da affiancare al canonico goth-system, floride espressioni nella label americana.
    Era il 1993 quando in Projekt usciva la ristampa dell’album “Under An Holy Ritual”: a distanza di quasi vent’anni, e di tante produzioni insieme condotte, l’atmosfera di beatitudine e della ricerca, ancora una volta scorre sui binari dei lunghi loop distensivi, dei soffici droni mascherati, attutiti, monastici dell’opener Layers Of Faith”, estesi e smorzati, volutamente smorzati in “Obliterated Alcove”, una prima parte introduttiva al successivo coro quasi monacale, liturgico, un vespro introverso tra cristianità antica e new-age futuribile, un ponte che trova sponde in cui ancorarsi nell’anima e nel corpo.
    La scultura sonora di Stefano Musso celebra la ricerca nei tintinni acuti per neo-tribalismi mistici che riprendono lavori concettualizzati insieme ad Antonio Testa: è lo spirito di “Peel Away This Mortal Coil” o dell’ascensione gotica, luminosa, di “Cerulean Facade”, un inno al sole che filtra tra bifore impolverate, ora lo sguardo penitente si alza per guardare la luce che entra tra i muri, illumina volti timorosi e penitenti.
    Il finale, “De-altered”, nei venti minuti in cui svolge la sua trama è liquida nelle piccole percezioni di un suono ancora una volta attutito, rinchiuso nei suoi loop ermetici, la stessa percezione di umido relax che si prova nei silenzi dei bagni turchi, in poche parole è acqua che purifica lo spirito attraverso il corpo.
    La musica ha questo valore ed Alio Die ha la virtù d’infondere la possibilità di penetrare la materia assimilando le sue suite a livello cellulare nel vero sincretismo spirituale, ricordiamolo insieme ai Jack Or Jive sempre in Projekt, oppure unito a tanti musicisti di ogni parte del Mondo, coalizzati nella volontà di esprimere senza parole il suono della psiche. -Nicola Tenani

    A review from Synth & Sequences:
    "More than a musical adventure without borders nor musical beacons, Deconsecrated and Pure is to contemplative EM what Baudelaire is to loving poetry"

    An anchorite craftsman of a monastic and dreamlike musical world, Alio Die (Stefano Musso) unfolds its abstracted musical paintings on dark and ecclesiastical works since the beginning of the 90’s. This Italian musician, who is much more a sculptor of musical forms than a keyboardist/synthesist fond of long and complex sequenced structures, has built himself an enviable reputation in the circle of dark ambient EM, as prove it his about forty albums realized in collaborations with various artists in search of musical paintings to nature ecclesiastical meditative. His 20th solo album is a mix of coldness and poetry in a stifling ambiance tetanized by layers with tones molded in a mixture of metal and angels' sighs which glide in oblivion.

    Very poetic and musical breaths, sounding as plaintive oboes, open "Layers of Faith". Serene and meditative, the mood is divested of rhythms and leans on subtle modulations which walk "Layers of Faith" in some mesmerizing ecclesiastical corridors. It’s a long contemplative canvas where layers of synth, or other instruments sculptors of sounds, crisscross and float among fine ringing, immersing the listener in a strange monasterial tranquility. More bright than somber, "Layers of Faith" is intubated by fine nets of flutes which chant seraphic tunes on a long musical sculpture where discreet choruses roam beyond strange rustles which rob the serenity of a secret bass line’s oscillations. I quite liked it, especially since the pattern plunges me into Michael Stearns's ambient works.

    "Cerulean Facade" embraces the same meditative outline with iridescent layers and rippling waves which propel the delicate ringing of prismatic carillons. More immured with its angelic choruses which hum a sanctified litany, "Obliterated Alcove" plunges us into a somber monastic atmosphere. The first half is quite occult, black to the limit, with celestine layers which spatter the calmness of the devout choir while the second part is sharply more celestial with sanctified singings which flow as voices without purposes on the waves of a prismatic brook. "Peel Away This Mortal Coil "and" De-Altared" are two titles molded in the same alloy of metal in decomposition. Everything is of a fetid scent of metal which crumbles in an oblong unchanging din. The layers are nasal and scratch a structure soaked with a thick cloud of tones as metallic as ill-assorted. If we hear fluty breaths to moan, we also hear silvered blades complain such as some bagpipes on decline among carillons, tinkling, rustles and lapping of water which become entangled in astral hollows where moan the modulations of bass hidden in twilights abstruse. On the other hand the finale of "De-Altared" is more musical, brushing the leaded sweetnesses of the introductory track.

    More than a musical adventure without borders nor musical beacons, Deconsecrated and Pure is to contemplative EM what Baudelaire is to loving poetry. It is a dark work. Not because of its musicality, but rather because of its contents which is extremely lumbering and atonal. If certain nuances illuminate our loudspeakers and dandle our ears of a certain iconoclastic magnetism, the fusion of tones, which sometimes embrace breaths of a silvered coldness, is scratching any attempt to tame a work which finds its entire dimension close to a circle of initiated and lovers of an EM without auditory images. Circle of which I’m visibly not in it! -Sylvain Lupari


    Other Albums by This Artist
    1. Under An Holy Ritual CD (Projekt, 1992)
    2. Password for Entheogenic Experience CD (Hic sunt Leones, 1998)
    3. & Yannick Dauby: Descendre Cinq Lacs... (maxi cd) maxi-CD (Hic sunt Leones, 1998)
    4. Le Stanze della Trascendenza CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 1999)
    5. Incantamento CD (Hic sunt Leones, 2001)
    6. Leaves Net CD (Hic sunt Leones, 2001)
    7. & Sola Translatio: Ad Infinitum CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2001)
    8. and Amelia Cuni: APSARAS ~ SALE $5 CD (Projekt, 2001)
    9. Il Tempo Magico di Saturnia Pavonia CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2003)
    10. Sol Niger CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2004)
    11. & Zeit: Sunja CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2004)
    12. Khen Introduce Silence CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2004)
    13. & Saffron Wood: The Sleep of Seeds CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2004)
    14. & Francesco Paladino: Angel's Fly Souvenir CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2005)
    15. & Werner Durand: Aqua Planing CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2005)
    16. & Festina Lente: Il Songo di un Piano Veneziano a Parigi CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2005)
    17. Suspended Feathers CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2005)
    18. & Jack or Jive: MEI-JYU ~ SALE $5 CD (Projekt, 2005)
    19. Under An Holy Ritual VINYL LP Vinyl (Small Voices, 2005)
    20. The Flight of the Real Image CD (Faria/Hic Sunt Leones, 2006)
    21. & Sola Translatio: Enigma CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2006)
    22. & Saffron Wood: Corteggiando le Messi CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2006)
    23. & Raffaele Serra=5000 Spirits: Quantum Consciousness CD (Sempiterna Mutatio/Hic Sunt Leones, 2006)
    24. & Raffaele Serra=5000 Spirits: Schwarzschild Radius CD (Sempiterna Mutatio/Hic Sunt Leones, 2006)
    25. & Raffaele Serra=5000 Spirits: Synapse-Shaihulud CD (Faria/Hic Sunt Leones, 2007)
    26. & Zeit: Raag Drone Theory CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2007)
    27. & James Johnson: Cube 7 - Sospensione D'Estate CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2007)
    28. & Luciano Daini: End of an Era CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2007)
    29. Antonio Testa: Inframundis CD (Faria/Hic Sunt Leones, 2008)
    30. Aura Seminalis CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2008)
    31. Tempus Rei CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2008)
    32. & Martina Galvagni: Eleusian Lullaby ~ SALE $5 CD (Projekt, 2008)
    33. Sit Tibi Terra Levis/Introspective re-issue CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2009)
    34. Hidden Spring re-issue CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2009)
    35. & Aglaia: Private History of the Clouds CD (Infraction, 2009)
    36. Music Infinity meets Virtues CD (Nextera, 2010)
    37. Horas Tibi Serenas CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2010)
    38. & Parallel Worlds: Circo Divino CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2010)
    39. & Zeit: Il Giardino Ermeneutico CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2010)
    40. Tripudium Naturae CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2010)
    41. & Mariolina Zitta: La Sala dei Cristalli CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2010)
    42. & Mathias Grassow: Praha Meditations CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2010)
    43. Honeysuckle CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2011)
    44. & Aglaia: Vayu Rouah CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2011)
    45. & Raffaele Serra=5000 Spirits: Towards Edentea CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2011)
    46. & Antonio Testa: Reverie CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2012)
    47. & Lingua Fungi: Otter Songs CD (Hic Sunt Leones, 2012)
    48. & Zeit: A Circular Quest PRE-ORDER CD in digipak (Hic Sunt Leones, 2013)
    Merchandise by This Artist None at this time.