CD A5 DIGIPAK + Digital Streaming
Tracklist
1
Here (How It All Started)
6' 41''
2
Steps (That's How It Has Crept Between Us)
4' 23''
3
And I'll Be There For You
5' 53''
4
Dreaming
3' 55''
5
In The End What Remains Will Be Love For You
4' 57''
6
En-Mor Mood
5' 41''
7
Storms
8' 12''
8
Our Silent Place
6' 19''
9
Steps (Reprise)
3' 20''
Paolo Bertoni's Review for Italian Music Magazine Blow Up: Luca Di Mira (Pillow)
Steps * CD Rizosfera/Rizozdb * 9t-50:29
"Although he seemed tempted to move away from the acronym under which he had signed his previous works, he ultimately decided to keep it, though this time in parentheses, in the credits of ‘Steps’. This choice keeps a connection to Luca Di Mira, the keyboardist of Giardini di Mirò, who also produced under the name Pillow. His notable albums include “Flowing Seasons” (2006) and “From Dusk to Dawn” (2012). This chapter, which features a magnificent 12-page booklet with artwork by Witold Ceckiewicz, whose “Monument of Torn Hearts” graces the cover, is immediately imbued with a sense of nostalgia. This feeling channels itself into glittering minimalist paths, with melodic traces and some barely perceptible dissonance. The final section ventures into vast spatiality.In ‘Steps (That's How It Has Crept Between Us)’, supremely melancholic piano lines creep in, while in ‘And I'll Be There For You’, a warm, romantic current re-establishes the thread that ties together an otherwise loose knot of expectation. However, midway through the track, telluric loop oscillations emerge, hinting at the dramatic side of this perhaps futile yearning. ‘Dreaming’ distills melancholy with glitchy interruptions, set against a self-indulgent piano, gradually drifting off into slumber to believe once again. In ‘In The End What Remains Will Be Love For You’, regret and loss rise, floating within as the music swells. In ‘En-Mor Mood’, the abandonment of the piano becomes an awareness and romantic impulse so potent that it shakes, extinguishing itself in gloom. This leads into the solemnity of ‘Storms’, where the dark interiority reveals veins of epic grandeur, underscored by field recordings and textures. ‘Our Silent Place’ marks a return to intimacy, a safe haven, though much seems to have changed in a place that remains shared, but now lonely. It is dark, yet we press on, moving toward the epilogue—through the fog that leads us into the reprise of 'Steps'." [8.0] Paolo Bertoni
Paolo Bertoni: recensione su Blow Up (Novembre 2024) -
"Sembrerebbe aver avuto la tentazione di dismettere la sigla con cui aveva firmato i suoi lavori precedenti, ha preferito comunque indicarla, sia pur tra parentesi, nell’accredito di “Steps”, mantenendo richiamo a ciò che Luca Di Mira, tastierista di Giardini di Mirò, ha prodotto come Pillow, i pregevoli “Flowing Seasons” (’06) e “From DuskTo Dawn” (’12). In questo capitolo, che si fregia di un magnifico artwork con booklet in formato 12” che in copertina ha il ‘Monumento dei cuori strappati’ di Witold Ceckiewicz, Here (How ItAllStarted) è subito preda di una nostalgia che si incanala in scintillanti percorsi minimalisti con scie melodiche e qualche perturbativa dissonanza appena accennata, con ultima tranche che avanza in vastità spaziali, in Steps (That’s How It Has CreptBetweenUs) sul piano s’insinuano rivoli sommamente tristi, con archi sullo sfondo che enfatizzano, a tratti irradiandosi inquieti, uno strazio lancinante, in And I’ll Be There For You spetta ad una calda corrente romantica riafferrare filo che saldi un altrimenti allentato nodo d’attesa, seppure verso la metà del percorso emergano telluriche oscillazioni in loop che scrutano anche nel lato drammatico di quel forse vano struggimento, Dreaming distilla malinconia con picchiettii glitch su un piano autoindulgente, addormentarsi per credere ancora. In In The End What Remains Will Be Love For You sale il rimpianto e il senso di perdita che fluttua dentro col sollevarsi di dolenti slanci neoclassici, con drone tempestosi che rabbuiano l’insieme per lasciare al piano finale deliquio, in En-Mor Mood l’abbandono pianistico è presa di coscienza e afflato romantico talmente forte da scuotere ed estinguersi in cupezza, preludio alla solennità di Storms, nella cui oscura interiorità si avvertono venature d’epos con tessiture field recordings, OurSilent Place è rientro in un’intimità come porto sicuro anche se molto sembra essere cambiato in un posto che resta condiviso, ma in solitudine, è buio però bisogna andare avanti, sino all’epilogo, la nebbia che accoglie la reprise di Steps." [8.0] Paolo Bertoni
Steps * CD Rizosfera/Rizozdb * 9t-50:29
"Although he seemed tempted to move away from the acronym under which he had signed his previous works, he ultimately decided to keep it, though this time in parentheses, in the credits of ‘Steps’. This choice keeps a connection to Luca Di Mira, the keyboardist of Giardini di Mirò, who also produced under the name Pillow. His notable albums include “Flowing Seasons” (2006) and “From Dusk to Dawn” (2012). This chapter, which features a magnificent 12-page booklet with artwork by Witold Ceckiewicz, whose “Monument of Torn Hearts” graces the cover, is immediately imbued with a sense of nostalgia. This feeling channels itself into glittering minimalist paths, with melodic traces and some barely perceptible dissonance. The final section ventures into vast spatiality.In ‘Steps (That's How It Has Crept Between Us)’, supremely melancholic piano lines creep in, while in ‘And I'll Be There For You’, a warm, romantic current re-establishes the thread that ties together an otherwise loose knot of expectation. However, midway through the track, telluric loop oscillations emerge, hinting at the dramatic side of this perhaps futile yearning. ‘Dreaming’ distills melancholy with glitchy interruptions, set against a self-indulgent piano, gradually drifting off into slumber to believe once again. In ‘In The End What Remains Will Be Love For You’, regret and loss rise, floating within as the music swells. In ‘En-Mor Mood’, the abandonment of the piano becomes an awareness and romantic impulse so potent that it shakes, extinguishing itself in gloom. This leads into the solemnity of ‘Storms’, where the dark interiority reveals veins of epic grandeur, underscored by field recordings and textures. ‘Our Silent Place’ marks a return to intimacy, a safe haven, though much seems to have changed in a place that remains shared, but now lonely. It is dark, yet we press on, moving toward the epilogue—through the fog that leads us into the reprise of 'Steps'." [8.0] Paolo Bertoni
Paolo Bertoni: recensione su Blow Up (Novembre 2024) -
"Sembrerebbe aver avuto la tentazione di dismettere la sigla con cui aveva firmato i suoi lavori precedenti, ha preferito comunque indicarla, sia pur tra parentesi, nell’accredito di “Steps”, mantenendo richiamo a ciò che Luca Di Mira, tastierista di Giardini di Mirò, ha prodotto come Pillow, i pregevoli “Flowing Seasons” (’06) e “From DuskTo Dawn” (’12). In questo capitolo, che si fregia di un magnifico artwork con booklet in formato 12” che in copertina ha il ‘Monumento dei cuori strappati’ di Witold Ceckiewicz, Here (How ItAllStarted) è subito preda di una nostalgia che si incanala in scintillanti percorsi minimalisti con scie melodiche e qualche perturbativa dissonanza appena accennata, con ultima tranche che avanza in vastità spaziali, in Steps (That’s How It Has CreptBetweenUs) sul piano s’insinuano rivoli sommamente tristi, con archi sullo sfondo che enfatizzano, a tratti irradiandosi inquieti, uno strazio lancinante, in And I’ll Be There For You spetta ad una calda corrente romantica riafferrare filo che saldi un altrimenti allentato nodo d’attesa, seppure verso la metà del percorso emergano telluriche oscillazioni in loop che scrutano anche nel lato drammatico di quel forse vano struggimento, Dreaming distilla malinconia con picchiettii glitch su un piano autoindulgente, addormentarsi per credere ancora. In In The End What Remains Will Be Love For You sale il rimpianto e il senso di perdita che fluttua dentro col sollevarsi di dolenti slanci neoclassici, con drone tempestosi che rabbuiano l’insieme per lasciare al piano finale deliquio, in En-Mor Mood l’abbandono pianistico è presa di coscienza e afflato romantico talmente forte da scuotere ed estinguersi in cupezza, preludio alla solennità di Storms, nella cui oscura interiorità si avvertono venature d’epos con tessiture field recordings, OurSilent Place è rientro in un’intimità come porto sicuro anche se molto sembra essere cambiato in un posto che resta condiviso, ma in solitudine, è buio però bisogna andare avanti, sino all’epilogo, la nebbia che accoglie la reprise di Steps." [8.0] Paolo Bertoni
All songs composed, produced and mixed by Luca Di Mira between March 2020 and April 2021
Mastering by Rafael Anton Irisarri @ Black Knoll Studio in New York
Cover Concept by Luca Di Mira
Graphic Design by Gabriele Fantuzzi @ Delicatessen Design Studio
Digital Streaming by Andrea Corsini @ RS1 Project
Source photo: Memorial of Torn-Out Hearts, Krakow, Poland (Witold Cęckiewicz 1964)
A very special thanks to:
Paolo Davoli, Letizia Rustichelli and the staff at Rizosfera / Armcomm Europe for their big support, Giuseppe Cordaro, Monica and Ada, Christophe Stoll, Johannes Schardt, Thaddeus Hermann.
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