BLAK SAAGAN - Se Ci Fosse La Luca Sarebbe Bellissimo 2LP

Highly recommended.

A monstrous work of dedication and sound architecture that investigates and soundtracks one of the saddest and most obscure pages of Italian history: the 1978 kidnapping of former prime-minister Aldo Moro by the Red Brigade terrorists.

Samuele Gottardello aka Blak Saagan, has been crafting his own library music for years merging the tradition of Italian 60s/70s psychedelic OST’s, ambient, drone, rhythmic electronics with kosmische kraut landscapes and Industrial wave to create ritual hypnagogic experiences.

It’s like a path that goes deeper and deeper, with moments of tension, moments of suspense, dream passages obfuscating reality and drum rolls echoing hyper-reality. One could say it’s like the soundtrack of a movie never shot.

Recorded over the course of 2 years with the use of a Farfisa Vip 205 organ, Roland TR-606 and 505 drum machines, Siel Orchestra synthesizer, Moog Model D and various analog effects, this 2LP comes as dense as they can, moving from the autobahn Kraftwerkian loop images of ‘Convergenze Parallele’ to the cold blooded synth-wave of ‘Scuola Hyperion’ and ‘Achtung Achtung’. ‘L’uomo incapucciato’ ups the drama recalling Goblin’s 1978 Dawn Of The Dead OST, while ‘Ore 9: Attacco al Cuore dello Stato’ is pure Italian police soundtracks, elevating gongs, percussion and orchestral elements to Morriconian suspense that reaches new heights in ‘E Lo Spettro Disse: Gradoli’ where celestial flutes intertwine and carry on the rapturous terrestrial legacy of maestros Alessandro Alessandroni, Egisto Macchi and Piero Umiliani.

Blak Saagan’s work would not be complete without nods to Carpenter and the 1978 crossroads where post-punk, sci-fi, new wave and minimalism collided creating alien experiments. Ending on the majestic 8 minute title-track, Se Ci Fosse La Luce Sarebbe Bellissimo, the album finds its moment of catharsis, a world free of any rhythmic constriction where the mystical dances with the unknown and where light finally has permission to invade and permeate reality.