By Georgia Smith
Matteo Mancuso, Sicilian guitar virtuoso, denounces all constraints of genre in his debut album ‘The Journey’, released next week, with nine meandering, guitar-led tracks showcasing his multifaceted abilities and striking musical talents. Purely instrumental, allowing the musical constructions to speak their own universal languages, ‘The Journey’ is just that – a progression and exploration into the seemingly endless directions that Mancuso can take his music in, and the evocations of story and emotion that each track brings to life.
Mancuso’s desire to transverse the boundaries of genre is never more apparent than in the diversity of tracks on this album, and as a result means that ‘The Journey’ is an accessible production of instrumental music, even for those who may not have previously enjoyed or experienced it. Seamless switches from rocky-sounding elements in tracks ‘Drop D’ and ‘Samba Party’, to the upbeat jazzy tones of ‘Blues for John’, and the funky undertones that run through ‘Polifemo’ and ‘Falcon Flight’ mean that each track is able to be whatever Mancuso wants it to be; the eternal suggestion that the blending of genres allow the music to naturally exist, to travel and change into the unexpected.
Mancuso’s striking musical talent is never more present than on the opening track ‘Silkroad’, with grungy distorted openings descending into a cooler blues-style arrangement. Mancuso, without wishing to constrain the free, fluid style and drive of the album, creates a kind of ‘blue-rock’ sounding guitar- potentially a result of his foray into jazz-rock with his three-piece band Snips in 2017. These myriad influences are present in ‘Silkroad’, but also in ‘Blues for John’, where the rocky feel of the previous track ‘Drop D’ continues briefly before slipping again into the early-influence jazz style, bolstered by an undeniably funky undertone of slapping bass. ‘The Journey’ itself, and within even the smaller chapters of individual songs, becomes an impressive showcase of the musical range that Mancuso’s talent carries effortlessly.
The key distinguished sound of Mancuso’s rapid finger-picking guitar style into fluid note-bending infuses the album with subtle cohesion; a technical refrain that acts almost as a stamp of his involvement. The guitars- and indeed the bass and drums, and piano played by his father on ‘Polifemo’ that elevate it- often appear to run wild, almost alone, as though Mancuso has simply followed a natural existence of the music that he creates, such is the expertise and subtleties of its construction. ‘Open Fields’, for instance, is cooler and more reserved, almost serious-sounding compared to the jazzy upbeat nature of the later tracks, and yet builds to a fast, bending, distorted finger-picking that is again almost rocky in nature, and yet which has crept up from the subdued tones of the openings of the track so naturally that it changes almost without being noticeable despite the differences.
The addition of other instruments to Mancuso’s guitar- ‘Polifemo’s piano, the underlying funky bass throughout, the noticeable drums in ‘Drop D’- are masterfully included- elevating the tracks to a fuller, more powerful and rich creation, yet without ever taking the limelight away from that which the album has sought to display. ‘Drop D’, released first, is a fitting teaser for the rest of the album, with its array of instrumental elements and foregrounding of the meandering, naturally evocative guitar and intentionally undefinable style.
The album’s titular final song, ‘The Journey’, makes use of the same evocation through ranges of tone that the entire album has achieved so successfully- becoming almost a smaller version of Mancuso’s grander vision. The seriousness of ‘Open Fields’, melancholic nature of ‘Time to Leave’, and darker, distorted electronics of ‘Drop D’ – evocations of feeling and tone created wordlessly, with no need for any language beyond that of Mancuso’s musical constructions come almost to a point by track nine, so that it comes to feel almost like a parting. Pensive, softer, more dignified, ‘The Journey’s parting track comes to embody the emotive, genre-defying exploration into musical expression and personal journey; an undoubtedly deserved ending for an album so rich in landscape, in style and in tone that each listen becomes, each time, an entirely different musical and emotional journey, with countless details and differences that reveal themselves with the intention that Mancuso has imbued into this debut.
- ‘The Journey‘ is released on 21 July.
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