Alessandro Cortini - Forse 3 (2015)

Nine Inch Nails keyboard player and synthesist, Alessandro Cortini gets us right there, again, with the 3rd 'Forse' volume. It marks a return to grander, widescreen statements and vaulted harmonics following the more personal hotel room recordings of his hugely acclaimed 'Sonno' LP for Hospital Productions. As we'd hoped, 'Forse 3' is flush with the sort of uncanny chord changes and lingering notes that carry over from his input to NIN, presenting pop-simple motifs rent as towering statements thanks to the recording techniques and mic placement of the space(s) they were played into. Pay close attention and you can hear the magic being broken as small room noises crop up on each track - only small rustles or breaths - subtly wrenching our perspective back and forth from unfathomably large dimensions to immediate, personal space, allowing the listener to occupy a strange mid-ground where perceptions are suspended, questioned. The effect is haunting and wonderful.