Mark Corrotto per All About Jazz – May 2021
“There is a walk you can take back in time with Gianmaria Aprile that brings you to a physical and spiritual space. The guitarist and sound artist visits both on Rain, Ghosts, One Dog And Empty Woodland. His journey is accomplished in seven parts that form a nearly unbroken whole.
This is Aprile’s first solo recording. He can also be heard in Luminance Ratio with fellow sound artists Andrea Ferraris, Luca Mauri and Luca Sigurtà; the free jazz ensembles Pipeline 3, Pipeline 5 and Pipeline 8; and the psychedelic rock band Ultraviolet Makes Me Sick. On Rain, Ghosts, One Dog And Empty Woodland, Aprile’s destination is Solbiate, a small village in Italy’s Lombardy region. Is this his birthplace? Is it another small commune that has been vacated by all the young people who have moved to the cities? Probably, but the places holding one’s roots and where they’ve had so many experiences leave indelible marks on the soul.
Traveling with Aprile (maybe as his dog), we visit this place and catch glimpses of ghosts in the form of shadowy hallucinations. His shimmering guitar effects open “Part I” as spectral sounds over a plodding drone. The music is part ambient and part field recording from a fourth or fifth dimension. Aprile takes us there with his guitar and guqin, an ancient Chinese instrument. He dabbles in melody for “Part II” and an outré blues in “Part III” resembling the collaboration between Thurston Moore and Loren Mazzacane Connors. The journey progresses through the science fiction world “Part IV” and the static feedback of electronic switches “Part V” before entering dark woods as the trek ends. Perhaps like Dante’s Inferno, this is just book one of a trilogy.”
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/the-pandemic-sessions-solos-pt-2
