[reviews] afe111lcd
ascanio borga: xenomorphic

Releases by Ascanio Borga seem to come with the ticking of the years clock. The first three were reviewed in Vital Weekly 550 and then "Peripheral Vision" in Vital Weekly 600 and little over a year later (57 issues!) his first non-private release on Afe Records.

It seems to me that his music has made a nice step forward. Until now it was all mainly non-rhythmic ambient music in the best Hypnos tradition of heavily treated guitar works, here he adds percussion, windchimes, Japanese carillon, frog guiro, samples, found sounds and objects.

Three long pieces and one shorter coda "Raw Ground" at the end of the release. The music is still largely in the ambient sector, with the addition of pseudo ethnic drumming and careful percussion. Somewhere towards the end of "Apnea" e-bow guitars come in, adding an extra texture of seventies cosmic music.

Still there is nothing new under the sun for Borga, but these new pieces mark an important step forward, the deepening of his sound. It makes a fuller, richer sound, still with all things beautiful. Borga wants to lull you to sleep, late at night, and he does a very fine job at that.

[Frans de Waard on Vital Weekly 657]