To be released on all digital platforms on May 5th, 2023, IVXVI is the new album by Sacrobosco, the moniker under which Giacomo Giunchedi produces electronic music. This is the first of two releases, to start the collaboration with the independent well known Italian label Trovarobato, which contain the new material recorded by the artist during 2021. According to Giunchedi, “At first, I thought of publishing a single album, as proof of how I consider the tracks part of the same body of work. In the end, I choose to divide them into two parts with the intention of keeping the listener’s concentration high in reference to two different playlists“.
The result is an IDM that is tinged with shoegaze, studded with jazz samples (Pharoah Sanders, Bill Evans, Alice Coltrane) or directly self-produced. It is mainly based on the use of guitars and bass, as well as on the processing of each instrument, including synths and drum machines, through analog preamplifiers and compressors. “I played a lot with the use of samples, working the sounds with effects that simulate tape saturation. Distortion is the central element of both records, and is the burning expression of a latent tension. It is music that was born during my daily life, drawing inspiration and responding to its needs“.
Available today March 29th, Faint is the first digital single taken from IVXVI and it is one of the most representative tracks of the new phase. “The idea of saturation that I had in mind plays a key-role in the structure of the track. The voices are samples taken from Beyoncé’s Halo, which I transformed into a scream coming from a sort of abysmal dimension“.
Italian musician Giacomo Giunchedi, based in Bologna, approaches electronics for the first time in 2014 with the electrowave trio Torakiki. Sacrobosco was born in 2020, treasuring the live shows collected over time (Ypsigrock, Gondar, NIM, Fruit Exhibition, in Italy, and Mein Haus Am See and Barkett in Berlin). His first LP, Both Sides of the Sky, came out in 2021 under Sussidiaria, Daniele Carretti’s label (Offlaga Disco Pax, Felpa). “The two new albums of 2023 are characterized by a greater use of analogue instrumentation and greater freedom in terms of production compared to Both Sides Of The Sky, which had a clearer sound“. Giunchedi is also a member of the techno-ambient duo sea: side.
IVXVI was composed, played, recorded and produced by Giunchedi in his home studio, mixed together with Roberto Rettura at Lo Studio Spaziale, in Bologna, and mastered by Matilde Davoli at Sudestudio, in Guagnano, Lecce. The cover photo is by Gabriele Drago, while the graphic design is by Giunchedi himself. “In respect of the sound of both albums, I wanted to create the image of two jaws through the graphics of the titles. So, something that was in contrast with the innocence evoked by the pics of Drago“. Sacrobosco is currently on tour, with the involvement of Paolo Raineri (Ottone Pesante, Junkfood) on some dates.