(3/6/5) 011: Maria Chiara Argirò - September
I haven't fully managed to wake up today. Neither has the day itself, a blanket of grey and rain that feels oppressive in its relentless smothering. In this environment, the new album from Italy-via-London composer Maria Chiara Argirò comes beautifully alive, lacing the heavy atmosphere with its own skewed kind of magic.
Released just last week, the Closer LP offers ten tracks of shifting, genre-splitting excellence, drifting between heady moments of pulsing electronic flourishes and something more refined and resigned; a deep sigh in the gap between strobe light flashes.
“I had a clarity for this record that I didn't have for others,” Argirò has said of the album. “I just knew what I wanted... We didn’t experiment a lot with this record because I just knew what to do. This might be a once in a lifetime thing to happen.”
Such sentiments reveal themselves both cryptically and with bold clarity, the whole piece very much a singular and striking achievement that feels completely, and beautifully unique, no matter what shape it manages to transform itself into. At times jazzy and sensual, before shooting off into some dubby and dead-of-night electronica, it's never afraid to leap into the unknown and it's in those heady, woozy moments where the true magic of the record comes alive.
Probably best taken as one whole, riveting movement, there are still plenty of isolated highlights - and it was the wistful and subdued 'September' which reached a hand out today. Subtle keys lay a hushed foundation, and they're underpinned by flickering percussive beats before Argirò's voice sings with a winding, hypnotic grace that elevates the track to new and captivating heights.
Highly recommend digging into the whole album, which is out now and streaming wherever you find your music.
Listen to 'September' on GFP / Bandcamp
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