Blossoming from a one-man studio project in 2005, award winning Nosound were created initially as a solo project by multi-instrumentalist Giancarlo Erra, evolving into a full band and currently featuring members, Giancarlo Erra (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Orazio Fabbri (bass), Marco Berni (keyboards), Paolo Vigliarolo (guitars) and Daniele Michelacci (drums). Erra also writes all the songs and produces the album.
Previous albums have featured contributions and collaborations with such artists as Tim Bowness on Lightdark and Vincent Cavanagh (Anathema) on Scintilla. Reviews say the group plays music in several different genres, including alternative rock, post rock, electronic, and ambient. You can also add Progressive Rock to the list (it’s not a disease) on an album that sees Erra return to using more organic instrumentation, enhancing the overall feel. There are, at times, comparisons in the music showing signs of Tim’s work, the more ambient tracks from Anathema and Steve Wilson’s solo output, whilst retaining the recognisable sound Erra has cultivated. Whatever genres are quoted, this music clearly falls under the ‘sweet melancholy’ cloak of soundscapes.
Running in at just under nineteen minutes this is an EP of short tracks not a long playing album and is the band’s first new music since 2018. Stripped back, ensuring each track is emotionally sumptuous and achingly heartfelt, Erra has been quoted as saying, “I always prefer to play a song again because it was beautiful but too short, rather than wonder why it goes on for so long without saying anything new.”
Degraded sounds coalesce like raindrops forming a puddle of soft music on The Nothing We Gave, in an alleyway barely lit by dim light from the sun trying to escape grey watery skies, whilst the lyrics reflect on wet cobbles as Erra laments a love lost and the track builds to it’s haunting crescendo.
Gentle, repeating piano notes fall like a steady shower, clinging to you, chilled and seeping To The Core of your consciousness, on the title track. A threnody we can all recognise as Erra laments “I loved you so much. I just never chose the right way. Why does it hurt this way?” His pained guitar cries, wounded and torn as it intensifies with the percussion, emotionally straining and twisting to the end of the track.
Tender acoustic guitar and strings introduce the first single and longest track from the EP, Worn-Out Parts. This feels deeply personal from Erra as he harmonises beautifully with Louise Piggott on what he says is a favourite track of his. Erra stretches through the dark clouds of his mind balancing silence and searching for the light of memories through reflective, fractured panes of glass, as the rain muddies his recollections and runs like rivulets down the shattered windows of time. The band masterfully negotiate the drops, spreading soothing coats across the tune.
From the longest to the shortest track presented here, the mournful Interrupt descends like a misted shroud of chanting, claustrophobically moistening you with intensifying bass and leaving you on a dank conclusion as we seek to appreciate the time we have left and not let it slip away down a well of melancholy.
Percussion and cymbals burst as the raindrops from the strings bounce on them rhythmically, whilst in an almost trance like chant, the lyrics drip “The train we’re all on and the stops that we make” in a comparison to the journey we take through life and the destinations and situations we encounter along the way. Erra’s guitar solo brings a comforting Closure to the album.
Like wading gently through a stream of bittersweet tears, ripples of sadness flow through the music and wistfulness radiates to the edges of the sound, over-spilling with drops of sorrow, mingling with melancholia and coloured with pastel hints of forlorn hope. Silent passages skilfully skim the liquid membrane of the running tracks, enhancing the songs’ forlorn rivulets.
It takes a degree of skill to initiate and navigate the pools of sadness, escorting us through the album and still leaving us feeling warmed and relaxed. Erra manages this by holding an umbrella of truth and frailty over us, waterproofed by genuine sentiment and heartfelt emotions, guiding us skilfully through the downpour of tracks advising and informing, to clarify and illuminate so we can see the blue sky amid the showers.
Buy the album, listen and take the lessons learned. Carpe diem my friends, appreciate what you have and make the most of your lives.
TRACK LISTING
01. The Nothing We Gave (3:32)
02. To The Core (4:20)
03. Worn-Out Parts (5:22)
04. Interrupt (2:44)
05. Closure (3:01)
Total time – 18:59
MUSICIANS
Giancarlo Erra – Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards
Orazio Fabbri – Bass
Marco Berni – Keyboards
Paolo Vigliarolo – Guitars
Daniele Michelacci – Drums
~ With:
Tim Bowness – Vocals
Louise Pigott – Backing Vocals (3)
ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: Kscope
Country of Origin: Italy
Date of Release: 27th June 2025
LINKS
Nosound – Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | YouTube | X | Instagram
