Petcord continues to expand its musical scope beyond the electroacoustic/dark ambient territory with
Wacky Southern Current's ep
Ageless Calm in Times of War. Behind Wacky Southern Current is Marco Cervellin from Italy who,
with a little help from his friend Gianni Garbo, recorded these songs at a farmer's
country house and thus it is not too surprising that the resulting output breathes the sunlit calm of the
surrounding rural scenery. The music is based on many influences:
Kraut- and
Progressive Rock,
post-rock a la
Tortoise, but also several aspects from contemporary
ambient sounds. The latter becomes most apparent in water colours which shows some parallels to
Letna's or
The Green Kingdom's definition of ambient sound.
One that not only blurs the line between electronic and acoustic, but also makes such a
differentiation superflous, since it should not matter how a sound was generated so long as it fits into
the context.
Ageless Calm in Times of War, named after a phrase Marco picked up somewhere and that stuck in his mind
immediately, summarises thoughts and musical aspects occupying him during the time the songs were created and
recorded. Meant as a break from a restless time and a restless age, a melancholic lyricism is prevailing throughout
the entire release, portraying a snapshot of one's current state of mind, rather than utilising narrative song
structures. And thus the observation of the cloud's amorphous ever changing shapes, colourful spots washing out
from a distance, the mulberry tree
nearby and sparkling reflections of sunlight on a riverbank become personal metaphors for a specific moment. Apart
from descriptive titles, however, Wacky Southern Current tries to avoid any sort of instructions about how
to interpret the music and instead focusses on the sound itself, with all the freedom it leaves to interested minds.
Olliver Wichmann
Preview audio (64 kbps):
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The release is available as both single mp3 download and entire package including artwork. Some browsers may automatically play the file rather than offering a dialogue what to do with the latter, so in this case downloads may not be that straight forward. In case your favourite browser happens to exhibit exactly that behaviour, simply right click the link, and then a context menu should appear that offers something like "Save as" or "Save location as".
| 1. | Clouds Shifting | 3 min 16 sec | 7'689 KByte | mp3, 320 kBit CBR |
| 2. | Watercolour | 3 min 02 sec | 7'128 KByte | mp3, 320 kBit CBR |
| 3. | Nostalgia of the Mulberry Tree | 5 min 04 sec | 11'883 KByte | mp3, 320 kBit CBR |
| 4. | Waves | 6 min 17 sec | 14'732 KByte | mp3, 320 kBit CBR |
| 5. | Clouds Shifting (Reprise) | 4 min 34 sec | 10'711 KByte | mp3, 320 kBit CBR |
| Artwork | Cover art for prints | 326 KByte | 12x12 cm at 300 dpi | |
| Everything | Entire release plus artwork | 37.3 MByte | zip archive |
Music © 2008 Wacky Southern Current and the Petcord netlabel.
Cover art © 2008 Olliver Wichmann, Marco Cervellin and the Petcord netlabel.