Francis M. Gri has been a busy man this last year. As well as working with fellow Italians Federico Mosconi, Roberto Galati and Giulio Aldinucci (to name a few), he has brought his entity KrysaliSound further into the firmament of bright and vivid neoclassical worlds on this, his newest record only solo – “Fall And Flares”.
The best thing one can have in drone based composition is a harmonious foundation. Left too dissonant, music becomes hard to listen to. Ensconced politely, sound teeters on being too pretty. “Fall And Flares” gets the balance of forces right. Not too abstract in general, continental mixolydian drift has a crush on the lesser used locrian modality. Imbued with a torsion that is beautifully technoid in the Detroit style (but without the pulsing beats) the record soon reaches a romantic partnership after hustling from the shallows of the listener’s ear.
After the very City Centre Offices “Horizon Is Waiting”, “Grey Over My Shoulders” recalls Xeric’s Ateleia for general depth, with a rousing set of cavorting melodic lines from piano in the upper octaves, and synths as a bassline parachute. Its lacular in musical fashion, in that it feeds on a obsession with a specific memory then ceases to ever replace exactly the same memory. Its a great tool to be used by the imagination, though often aligned with diseases like Leyland Kirby’s “Unmasking Alzheimers” and the revolt of similar subjective pauses for thought.
I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of sounds. I think its Francis M. Gri’s best solo offering to date, and in my humble favouring is my go-to listen from his sending to my archives. Operating on a seasonal basis beginning in Spring most years, Krysalisound as the saying goes have gone from one immense strength to the other, but unlike the ice on your freezer door, you definitely hope from hearing this that the central core of that cold sound won’t become inoperable.