Until We Fossilize

Whereas Marta Del Grandi spent much of the previous decade based in Belgium, where she made her way as a jazz singer, she returned to her native Italy to record her solo debut album, a set of varied indie art songs assembled under the title Until We Fossilize. Heavily inspired by intercontinental travels in the late 2010s, it looks to affiliated histories, stories, and myths that she learned along the way for its lyrical content. The title of the album itself refers to the marine fossils located at the peaks of the Himalayas. Compositional in presentation, and influenced musically by the likes of Ennio Morricone, the soundtracks of David Lynch, exotica, and the 60s California sound, the album begins with the brief, myth-based Taller Than His Shadow. Spacy, mechanical noise and ominous, sustained synths and low strings open the track in advance of Del Grandis spoke-sung narrative and improvisatory piano accompaniment (I couldnt read his mind, but I could tell/That I would be left under his spell). Its followed by a sparse, more tuneful acoustic folk song, Shy Heart, about animals trying to flee brush fires in Australia. More concerned with layered harmonies, Somebody New backs vocals with strings, haunting synths, and timpani-like drums. Also concerned with endangered animals, it focuses on birds and the threat of windmills and electrical wires. The more atonal, improvisatory Lullaby Firefly is still melodic and harmonic at heart, though constant off-pitch mechanical tones hover in the background throughout. Even the closing track, Totally Fine, is menacing in tone. It juxtaposes gentle acoustic guitar, piano, and strings with processed percussion and spontaneous noise (Have you ever seen yourself in the mirror and wondered if its actually you or its just how you look?). Del Grandis self-produced merger of acoustic and electronic components was mixed in Brooklyn by Shahzad Ismaily (Bonnie Prince Billy, John Zorn, Johann Johannsson), who recorded drums and synths for the album. Notably strange, subtle, and cerebral, Until We Fossilize ultimately compels with its detached, Lynchian ambiance. ~ Marcy Donelson