Reviews:
A duo here, of the ever so active Andrea Marutti and Davide Del Col, of whom I may not have heard before, but who also works as O Diabo De Vila Velha and Ornament, as well as plays in group like 30 Seconds Over Teheran and Echran. I am not sure where Molnija Aura fits into his work, but for Marutti I can surely tell. His work seems to me one large take on the notion of ambient music, and all he does, and that is a lot, is finding a multitude of approaches to ambient. It can be very drone based, very quiet, more noisy, a bit more industrial, a bit more on field recordings etc. But whatever it is, he is always working towards that mighty droning piece of music. With Molnija Aura this is not different. They are credited for analogue and digital synthesizers, effects and treatments and they create six lengthy pieces of music. This is in ambient sub-section: spacious, science fiction music (the hand drawn space ship cover and titles give away a lot). Related to the so in-vogue cosmic music, although this was recorded in 2007 already. Great late night, dimly lit room music, or, if the weather is better, a walk at night with this on your headphones (walkman not mp3 of course). Great atmospherics going on here. Having said all things praise, I feel also a bit obliged to say that I didn't hear anything new that would shed light on the current state of said music. Molnija Aura probably don't care, so why should we? Sit back and flow downstream, sky-high.
Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly, February 2011
Molnija Aura – ein weiteres Projekt des italienischen Ausnahmekünstlers Andrea Marutti, das er mit seinem Landsmann Davide Del Col verwirklicht, der vor allem durch seine Solopfade unter dem Namen Ornament & seine Mitarbeit bei Echran (in Kooperation mit Fabio Volpi) auffiel. "Utopian Suns" hätte auch gut über Afe Records, dem Label von Andrea Marutti erscheinen können, erblickte aber anstand über die israelische Manufaktur Topheth Prophet das Licht der Welt, wo es sich nahtlos in einen von heimischen Interpreten geprägten Backkatalog einreiht, der seit 2002 stetig wächst. Als Inspirationsquellen dienten dem Duo die Themengebiete Weltraumforschung, Astronomie und Science-Fiction, welche schon unzählige Protagonisten vor ihnen im (Dark) Ambient verwendeten, um Hintergründe für ihre einnehmenden Kopfkinofilme zu schaffen, die aus dem tristen Alltag in unendliche Weiten entführen (und meist zur Entspannung beitragen). In Punkto Tonkunst kreierten die Herrschaften eine höchst atmosphärische Symbiose der Stile Ambient und Glitch, deren Dichte wie eine Würgeschlange ihre Beute erdrückt & verstörte bzw. total faszinierte Konsumenten hinterlässt, wenn sie sich vollends dieser mitreißenden Sounds ergeben, wovon man am Ende durchgeschwitzt wie komplett entspannt vor den Lautsprechern der heimischen Anlage verharrt – Wahnsinn! Zwischen 2007 – 2009 entstanden diese 6 Tracks mit einer Spielzeit von knapp über 1er Stunde, welche von Anfang bis Ende eine brillante Ausgewogenheit von tiefen Bässen aus der Electronica mit teilweise meditativen (dronigen) Klangflächen des Ambient verschmelzen, die die Südländer mit vereinzelten Noisesequenzen akzentuierten, wodurch sich eine atemberaubend wie ausdrucksstarke Masse ergibt, die auch nach dem x-ten Hördurchlauf noch abheben lässt! Fazit: Wir reden oft über das musikalisch perfekte Album, ein Terminus, der auf das Debüt "Utopian Suns" von Molnija Aura zutrifft, das in jeder Sekunde überzeugt wie bewegt! PS: Bitte sofort die Arbeiten zur nächsten Veröffentlichung aufnehmen!
Raphael Feldmann, Kultur Terrorismus, February 2011
Andrea Marutti's latest musical collab with Davide Del Col is a welcome contribution in the development of sci-fi ambient minimalism. The two musicians are renowned sound alchemists who produced a handful and wide range of electronic materials / soundscapes under their own name or for collective musical projects (Hall of Mirrors...). In this new promising project, they demonstrate a great hability to experiment "spatial subjectivation" focusing their object on hypnotic patterns, tonal clusters and haunting acoustic vibes. The intention of "Utopian Suns" is to create neutral-fundamentally harmonics and expressive dronescapes which reveal a pure level of static consistency. From the phenomenological side of meaning these granular soundscapes can be perceived as elementary meditations on the perceptual phenomenon, silence, temporality and culture of repetition. Each track installs the listener into a large empty space where the feeling of real time is preserved, restored and re-inforced. The sound spectrum is constantly voluminous and sonorous, admitting subtle interferencies, micro transitions, extended lines, reverb scintillations. The deeply spatial / sculptural aspect of compositions implicitly approaches the aesthetic sensibility of early pioneering works in post-modernist minimalism (Alvin Lucier, Phil Niblock...), giving to the ensemble a very cohesive-symbiotic spectromorphological dimension. The self title track is a stunning, subliminal dreamy like soundscape punctuated by breathing minimal melodies. To say the least, "Utopian Suns" is a luxurious, everlasting and fascinating textural ambient droning effort. According to me and due to its warm cristal-like waves this album also appears to be highly recommended for beginners in this specific musical subgenre.
Philippe Blache, ProgArchives, March 2011
Un lungo, coinvolgente, affascinante viaggio attraverso il buio più profondo degli infiniti spazi stellari… Una perfetta colonna sonora per immaginarie avventure cosmiche, a bordo di fluttuanti astronavi perse nell'immensità e nell'inconoscibilità del Vuoto Assoluto, sospese in una dimensione spazio-temporale in cui l'umana percezione sensoriale diviene via via un lontano, sfocato ricordo… un concetto astratto, un riferimento sempre più impreciso ed evanescente… Su tutto domina l'oscurità, descritta attraverso masse di basse frequenze in lento movimento, soltanto a tratti violate da indecifrabili segnali di possibili civiltà aliene, captati attraverso strumentazioni di bordo che colmano il silenzio di sterili e angusti ambienti a prova di forza di gravità tratteggiandolo con ronzìi, sibili elettronici, onde sonore ritmiche… E poi cicliche, potenti, imprevedibili tempeste cosmiche che crescono, scuotono, inquietano e spaventano, e che improvvisamente si dissolvono nel Nulla, riconducendo in un istante il viaggio a quell'apparente, illusoria immobilità che soltanto il confronto diretto con l'Eternità e con l'Infinito può ingannevolmente indurci a credere reale… Un viaggio sonoro che raggiunge il suo apice estremo nei quindici minuti della title-track, laddove una pulsante e ipnotica sequenza melodica in crescendo proveniente dal Profondo sembra avvolgere lentamente ogni cosa, disintegrando ogni residua percezione del tempo e dello spazio, e lasciando il cosmonauta/ascoltatore a fluttuare senza controllo e senza memoria in una dimensione "altra".
Giuseppe Verticchio, Oltre il suono, March 2011
Immaginate di trovarvi al comando di una navicella lanciata verso il vuoto assoluto. Dapprima è il timore che qualcosa vada storto in partenza a frenare le vostre emozioni. Improvvisamente il distacco dalla terra che avete sempre conosciuto rafforza la consapevolezza nei propri mezzi e sorregge l'orgoglio quasi fosse un vaso di porcellana in bilico su una mensola. Con il passare dei minuti la ricerca di utopiche fonti di luce raggiunge un apice estremo di piacere e il silenzio, raccontato con sussurri elettronici e imperfetti cicli di onde sonore, accompagna una schizofrenica autoindulgenza dei sensi. La collaborazione tra Andrea Marutti (Amon, Hall Of Mirrors) e Davide Del Col (O Diabo De Vila Velha, Echran) offre un grandioso tributo al minimalismo sci-fi e artisti quali Phill Niblock ('Sun Ra', 'Disseminate'), Alvin Lucier ('Navigations For Strings, Small Waves' e 'Sferics') e Philip Glass ('Strung Out', 'Music In Twelve Parts'). Qualcuno lo definirà solamente dark ambient. A noi piace proseguire oltre le mere definizioni di stile e consigliamo questa opera lungimirante a coloro che vestono ordinari per risplendere nella mediocrità di una società che vive di sola apparenza.
Divine, Dagheisha, April 2011
"Molnija Aura is an electronic ambient/glitch project of Davide Del Col and Andrea Marutti Milan, Italy." This is taken literally from the info-sheet and I agree with all of you that an opening sentence couldn't have been any more plain then this. But there is something in that line that made me reconsider writing it a few times... Andrea is the man behind the AFE label and I've known that label for quite some time now. Next to that he is active as a musician under several names (Afeman, Amon, Lips Vago, Never Known and Spiral) and in several other projects (Hall Of Mirrors, Maribor, Meerkat and Sil Muir). Recently I had the pleasure of reviewing "Detrimental Dialogue" by Andrea Marutti and Fausto Balbo and while listening to "Utopian Suns" I realized that Molnija Aura is much more a two-person project with a very impressive symbiotic energy as opposed to a collaboration between two persons, each doing his own thing: making a whole of two parts. The six track play a little over an hour and there is not a dull moment in there. Not for droners, as there is a continuous flow and enough to explore in the many layers of each composition, but also not for the soundscape-adept. Each track is long enough to stay interesting for the minimalist, but it's changing quickly enough for listeners who need a bit more variation. Inspiring titles like "Channels of Anxiety", "Minimum Pulsar Luminosity" and "Tidal Disruption" give you enough information to let your mind flow out and be elsewhere. The sounds on this album are thickly layered and very well given their respective place in the frequency-spectrum. What is audible is clearly there, but in the same way: that what needs to be hidden, remains to be hidden. Or - as with the sub-low in "Channels of Anxiety" - they are only audible at moments where they should be heard. The black&white cover shows a satellite and parts of the satellite are covered over the pages of the booklet. Very well found with as well the science fiction theme of the album as well as the endlessness the music hands you... A quote that would fit this release very well would be "Turn on, tune in, drop out". But it's up to you to explore that world beyond this one. I can only say that I've been there and the way back here was long...
Bauke van der Wal, Witte Ruis, April 2011
Right after his collaborative effort with Fausto Balbo, Andrea Marutti returns with a brand new collaboration that bring him crossing his knobs with Davide Del Col, some of you may remember for a couple of wonderful works with Echran and for his work as Ornament. This album brings together a couple of musicians quite renowned for their recent dark ambient past but differently from what one may expect this is much more than that. Infact even if they've kept their dark roots on board, they overabundance of space synths paints the atmosphere of a strange space color. Even if this record has nothing to do with that, it reminded me of Brian and Roger Eno in their Apollo album, probably the space imaginary made me wrote this, but later while giving a look to the layout I've noticed they've put space satellites everywhere, and maybe I'm not that wrong. There's a great use of melancholic litanies pulsing underneath and during the first listening it didn't emerge completely, later when I've had the chance to give the proper attention to the work it surprised me. I've been listening to this work at night while trying to catch some sleep and believe me, there's no better soundtrack to meet Morpheus' embrace.
Andrea Ferraris, Chain D.L.K., May 2011
Debutto per la sigla Molnija Aura che congiunge le forze di Davide Del Col e Andrea Marutti, con l'ispirazione che in "Utopian Suns" sgorga dall'era spaziale e dal cinema di fantascienza. Rimembrando, con vagheggiata nostalgia, sensazioni sbiadite, fascino e stupore erosi da odierni tempi assai meno immaginativi, il duo attraverso l'impiego decisamente prevalente di elettronica analogica, si inoltra in gassose ambientazioni non esenti da minacce, si vedano "Channels of Anxiety" e "Tidal Disruption", con lenti e fluttuanti tragitti verso l'indecifrabile suggeriti da "Harmonic Radiations Tide", la quasi misticheggiante ricerca della luce più accecante di "Canis Major Overdensity", segnali alieni che fuoriescono dal momento di massima dilatazione dark ambient in "Minimum Pulsar Luminosity", il quasi irreparabile ingresso nel cosmo con la malinconia di avvertire la Terra come irrecuperabile passato di "Utopian Suns". (7/8)
Paolo Bertoni, Blow Up, May 2011
Molnija Aura è il progetto comune di Davide Del Col (Echran) e Andrea Marutti (Amon, Hall Of Mirrors, Afe Records). Utopian Suns è un disco in gestazione dal 2007, che ha trovato casa presso l’israeliana Topheth Prophet, etichetta che segue sia la scena nazionale (Maor Appelbaum, Lietterschpich) sia internazionale (MB, Bastard Noise…). Utopian Suns è colonna sonora di un viaggio spaziale, realizzata tramite la “sapienza ambient” dei due, che qui offrono il meglio delle loro caratteristiche: ci sono la profondità di Andrea e la tensione affilata di Davide. I suoni probabilmente originano da sintetizzatori analogici e digitali, ma – nonostante questo – all’ascoltatore arriva qualcosa solo parzialmente retrò, perché si trova in qualche zona nerissima dell’universo, ma non per forza quello immaginato dai pionieri della musica cosmica. Si tratta di un sound più sottilmente inquietante, che trasmette molto bene la sensazione di vuoto infinito che si deve provare osservando lo spazio da qualche satellite alla deriva. Notevole, infine, lo slittamento noise disturbato dell’ultima “Tidal Disruption”, segno inequivocabile che ci siamo avvicinati troppo a qualcuno di quei soli utopici. Tipico ascolto per il quale si richiedono isolamento e cuffie, grazie alle quali sarà possibile percepire anche buone ed essenziali melodie sotterranee. Drone music di pregio, insomma.
Fabrizio Garau, Audiodrome, June 2011
