Product Description
2 Clouds Like Solid Rocks
3 Furrows of Memory ← pitch track
4 Emphatic Moment
5 Sleeping Among the Rice Fields
6 Wisdom and Resolution
Genres: Electro-Ambient, Relaxation, Sleep
For Fans Of: Alio Die, Center of Attention, Marco Lucchi
jarguna: synth, field recording, modular drone, modular synth, loops, wind bell
Odile Bruckert: Transverse flute, voice
Henrik Meierkord: cello, viola
Incorporating the lyrical enchantment of Odile Bruckert’s flute and voice along with the deeply resounding cello and viola of Sweden’s Henrik Meierkord, Italian sound-artist jarguna (aka: Marco Billi) devises a more melodic approach to his electro-ambient music for his 54th album. Together, the union of the three sound explorers unleashes an hour of gorgeous beauty.
“This is Furrows of Memory,” Marco comments. “The fascination with how the psyche can engrave an event in the tangle of neurons, simple cells with the ability to forge like a blacksmith or the grooves of a vinyl record. A scratched wall with the lovers' initials engraved on it, the centuries pass, no one remembers that couple anymore, but the wall remains.”
Marco recalls:
With a relentless and constant desire to connect with other artists, I don't think a little self-satisfaction is harmful as this album gave me great satisfaction. Meeting Odile was truly pleasant. She’s a woman from another era: kind, calm, a guest in my home with her cat. We spent two days recording, exchanging ideas, and daydreaming. The workflow on this album was extremely fluid and linear. Odile has great musical talent, a master of both singing and the flute. She followed my tracks with ease and, as they say, "right at first sight," as she herself said she was inspired by my melodies, and this gave me great joy.
I've previously collaborated with Henrik Meierkord on several tracks and an entire album (Tapestry Flow). Finally, together again on a project that has developed with magical fluidity.
Odile and I both see music as a form of therapy; in fact, we want this album to help people understand the potential of melodies and frequencies.
Odile recalls:
The universe of the healer jarguna struck me instantly! Meeting him was a revelation, which, as is often the case, never happens by chance. Naturally, since he is intimately familiar with the healing vibrations emitted by plants and the many natural elements that come from our Mother Earth, involved in the universe… So, for me, logically, his music has the power to heal the body and mind with the universe of its vibrations. This encounter with jarguna on my path was enchanting, and I'm proud to participate in the creation of this beautiful album.
Marco recalls:
Have you ever visited an archaeological site and thought about how many people walked those streets, sat on that wall, the chatter in a square, or the ritual or ceremony at an altar or temple? What did they say while waiting for an event in an amphitheater? How did the boys court? What’s the gossip on street corners?
This happened to me while visiting sites in Turkey: a beautiful square with still-functioning fountains in Sagalassos near Isparta, and a splendid amphitheater. Also, Gobekli Tepe, considered one of the oldest places of worship in the world, and Nemrut Dagi mountain, those beautifully engraved stones, the skill of the blacksmith, whose secret, to this day, we still don't know.
This is Furrows of Memory: the fascination with how the psyche can engrave an event into the tangle of neurons.
Reviews Editor –
From Exposé
Positively uplifting, melodic, and beautiful; this time out Italian sonic sculptor Marco Billi (a.k.a. Jarguna) has enlisted the help of Swedish cellist / violist Henrik Meierkord and French flutist / vocalist Odile Bruckert for this majestic exercise in the creation of wondrous musical soundworlds that are at once inspirational and filled with emotion. Much like moonlight reflecting off waves, the six pieces at hand shimmer with an otherworldly magic opalescence that quietly calms while enriching the spirit. Meierkord and Jarguna have collaborated previously on the 2020 albums Tapestry Flow and Chimera of a New World, as well as 2022’s Chimera… Session Two and perhaps some others I’m not aware of, so the two have plenty of experience working together. Odile Bruckert is a new name to me, with only a couple previous recordings on the BW Music label from 2008 and 2010, though her everpresent flute and essentially wordless voice (on two tracks) fit into Furrows of Memory perfectly, bringing a certain calmness and melodic color to every piece.
The immediate standout among the six tracks is the thirteen-minute “Sleeping Among the Rice Fields,” a Southeast-Asian flavored epic brought to life via Jarguna’s bells, gongs, wooden mallets, and percussives (acoustic instruments, some of which have been processed) along with subtle field recordings, Bruckert’s flutes and vocals, and Meierkord’s subtle strings, every sound gets caught up in the soft, magical swirl of the piece, which evolves slowly over the course of its duration. With the title track, the power of the piece lies in the stunning production, as an array of synth sounds mixes with flute and strings in a beautiful sea of studio reverb. Throughout the album the pace is gentle but constantly moving forward without any cadence — one could easily recognize this to be a blend of healing music and spiritual sounds for meditation, though a bit more bold, perhaps. Opening the set is “The First Sunrise I Remember,” a piece that shimmers with light and sets the stage for everything that follows, while “Empathic Moment” hovers in a slightly darker, shadowy region, where the flute soars high, cutting through the filaments of night. All taken together, Furrows of Memory is a powerful and immersive experience. -Peter Thelen