When a musician sings their heart out, their intent is clear. The sounds of the song mirror the emotions and feelings the lyrics spell out, making it easy to connect with on a fundamental level. For electronic/dance artist Gianfranco Pescetti, his sounds are his voice and his latest album, Daystar Nocturnal, manages to take the listener on an introspective and emotional journey through sound alone.
The soft, echoing synths of “Clownspunk” kick things off. The track creates an ethereal spaciness that fills out when the creeping bass sneaks up and kicks the track into the next dimension. By the first changeover right before the minute mark, the bouncy percussion has already got you moving. All the hypnotic sounds perfectly hit your shoulders and move down to your hips naturally, making it impossible to not move to the groove of track. “Clownspunk” kicks the album off with a bang as it sucks you in with its dance club vibes.
“Obsidian” has an entrancing intro. The entrancing percussion of the shaking tambourines plays with the wistful synths in a way that inspires the feeling of emergence. Grand, sweeping synths intersect with one another to create groovy sounds that subtly twist and change, creating the next part of the track as you’re listening to the previous one. The sonic landscape built by the meandering sounds is breathtaking, with layers of unique melodies intersecting upon one another perfectly to get the listener lost in its musical splendor. It makes “Obsidian” the first stand-out track on the album as it whisks the listener away to another world completely, feeling like a true musical journey.
“Nostalgia Aime Le Rouge” is another stand-out track. From the top, it sets up a vibe of intensity and mystery with its heavy electro synth sounds. The creeping bass makes a return in this track serving as the backbone to meandering, twinkling sounds that create a contemplative soundscape. The dramatic track is a heavy one, with bold musical motifs creating surprisingly soft grooves that are easy to get lost in but don’t carry the upbeat air of a track such as “Clownspunk.” While “Macchia, I’ll See You…” gave the listener a taste of the more introspective-feeling tracks, “Nostalgia Aime Le Rouge” defines itself with it.
While the intro to “The Wake” may invoke a slight creepy uneasiness, it moves smoothly into a groove shortly afterward. The industrial vibe the track sets up is felt in its heavy percussion and bassy synths. They dance with the electronic sounds of buzzing and a smooth bass to create a sound evocative of a machine as it boots up and moves through its processes. It’s another track with an introspective feeling, as the hypnotic melodies feel easy to get lost in. While it doesn’t make one want to exactly get up and dance, the grooves it lays down are undeniable and are easy to move to naturally. It gives “The Wake” a unique personality among the rest of the tracks on the album with its entrancing sounds.
The outro track, “Fogbound,” brings the pulse of the track front and center. It lays down a powerful beat with a heavy bass that’s easy to move your head to. When the track lightens up around the 40-second mark, it breaks into a full-blown club vibe that will get you out of your seat. The gentler motifs and samples give the track its unique personality. The flutes, subtle guitar riffs and other sonic surprises make repeat listens just as engaging as the first as the track begs you to find all the little features it hides within it. It makes for a satisfying outro track that leaves you with a similar upbeat energy it brought you in with.
Daystar Nocturnal is an interesting album. Each track is full of unique grooves and beats that are easy to dance to and get lost in upon first listen. Tracks such as “The Wake” or “Macchia, I’ll See You” can be heavy-handed with their introspective vibes, but others such as “Fogbound” and “Nostalgia Aime La Rouge” combine those introspective elements with more conventional EDM stylings. This combination creates captivating sounds that grip you as they tell you their story, making each repeat listen one you look forward to. It makes Gianfranco Pescetti’s Daystar Nocturnal an album that’s easy to recommend, as every listen has the potential to feel unique.
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