There is a remarkable discrepancy between the childhood excitement beaming from the cover photos, and the dark claustrophobic chords in the opening track of Selaxon Lutberg’s ” Simboli Accidentali“.
And it’s only about halfway into the album when the dark and gloomy atmosphere, created by almost unrecognisable sounds of guitar, cheap organ and worn tape/vinyl loops, gives way to a little bit more light, just before retracting again into a more comfortable darkness.
The liner notes reveal only slightly more about the purpose of this journey:
“We were told about a place, beyond the fields. I left with a backpack, inside a half empty can of coca cola and a knife”
[…]
“The marsh didn’t scare us, the bloodsuckers did. We walked for long.”
[…]
“The marsh and the ditches made us adults, or at least so we believed.”
Not having heard of this name before, I assumed Selaxon Lutberg was the name of the artist involved, but it proves to be an alias of Andrea Penso from Italy. This is his third full album as Selaxon Lutberg, after two previous albums, a collaboration album with Subinterior ánd a number of EP’s.
“Composing this album, I tried to focus on ‘Accidental Symbols’ mostly born during my childhood, tried to study them not in detail but in their essence.”
To further explain this, Penso quotes from an interview with Andrej Tarkovsky, saying “childhood is the moment in human life that determines all his future, especially if that future will be linked to art, inner life and psychological problems. In other words, childhood feeds all the creativity of the adult.”
Understanding this, the music on “Simboli Accidentali“feels even more like a deep dive into subconscious memories, exploring territories that bring fear and excitement at the same time.
SELAXON LUTBERG – SIMBOLI ACCIDENTALI 5