Eraldo Bernocchi & Shinkiro - In Praise of Shadows (2016)

"In Praise Of Shadows" is a massive collaboration album by Italy's legendary producer Eraldo Bernocchi of Sigillum S
and Japanese dark ambient mastermind Manabu Hiramoto of Shinkiro.
The music weaves dark electronics and industrial dub with heavy atmosphere. The 8 tracks based on a concept of the traditional Japanese aesthetics inspired by Junichiro Tanizaki's essay, beautifully contrasted light and shadow, stillness and motion with using modern technology and various musical compositions. 4-panel cardboard sleeve.

This album resulted from a meaningful collaboration between Italian musician Eraldo Bernocchi (who got fame and recognition with the legendary Italian formation SIGILLUM S) and Manabu Hiramoto aka Shinkiro (who’s a Japanese artist active in the wider fields of dark-ambient music and who collaborated with numerous famous artists).

Content: “In Praise Of Shadows” is a surprising album, which mixes multiple influences. It’s a rather complex creation revealing great sound treatments and a real sonic intelligence resulting in a few tracks with a real IDM approach. It sounds industrial as well and even trip-hop like a surreal, but fascinating symbiosis between Portishead and Autechre.

Some passages are pretty dreamy while others are dark and sophisticated. There’s a great progression running throughout the tracks accomplished with subtle noise treatments.

This album reveals a visionary approach in electronics. The work has been accomplished by an impressive sonic canvas and a truly passion for sound creation and manipulation. There also is a meticulous progression in the writing reaching a climax on “Hikari”. The opening cut “Fluorescent Memories” and the IDM-like “Shadow Ghosts” both are other attention grabbers. There also is a kind of transcendental feeling emerging from the final cut (cf. “Black Magic Train”).

This is the kind of album where you will not find any minus point except if you were expecting a more ambient and or experimental style.