Giuseppe Ielasi: Gesine
Häpna

Gesine offers a rare solo portrait of Italian guitarist Giuseppe Ielasi, who's often heard in collaborative settings with the likes of Renato Rinaldi, Dean Roberts, and others. The half-hour mini-album consists of six quietly atmospheric pieces with minimal instrumentation of acoustic guitar, percussive shadings, and electronics. The music merges elements of meditative folk ambiance with drones, the fourth piece a prime example where a disturbed, off-key warble shadows country-blues guitar picking and animated strumming. The second piece, a meditative drone of quiet hum and guitar glissandi, makes the strongest impression (in part due to its 10-minute length), while the opening piece offers arrhythmic clusters of acoustic picking and percussion accents. Yet while Gesine offers a fair share of appealing moments, its impact is diminished by its brevity and overly restrained sound.

March 2005