Long Walks In The Dark
Brutture Moderne/Love And Thunder, 2024
8/10
Listen to Long Walks In The Dark
The brainchild of Gianluca Maria Sorace, as Stella Burns the Italian plays the bulk of the instruments here, but also welcomes plenty of help for the diverse and unpredictable 12 tracks.
The brief and warm “Amor” starts the listen with Christian Scazzieri’s fluid guitar and Filippo Ceccarini’s bright trumpet that suit the cultured climate, and the title track follows with Damiano Trevisan’s agile drumming that complements Burns’ expressive pipes in the harmonic delivery.
Moving into the middle, “Long Black Train” benefits from Diego Sapignoli’s animated percussion that helps cultivate worldly melodies, while “Her Kiss Your Smile” is an intimate, acoustic guitar fueled moment of dreamy, folk-rock ideas.
Landing near the end, “Make A Wish” features Marianna D’ama on vocals, which, along with Davide Grotta, emits a distinct beauty, and “We Cannot Decide” exits with a rich and cautious finish of heartfelt song craft.
A record that took much time to make and was clearly very carefully fleshed out, Burns plays electric, slide and acoustic guitars, Farfisa Pianorgan, banjo, mandolin, piano, harmonica, organ, drum programming, percussion, string and winds. You might be reminded of names like Nick Cave, Ken Stringfellow or Mick Harvey (both Stringfellow and Harvey appear on a track), as the listen winds around folk, roots, Americana and noir rock bouts with much intrigue.
Travels well with: Carmen Sea- Sorry; Baby Fire- A Year Of Grace