CD - Aesthetics
Suspended between dub and restless electronica, with flashes of jazz and spoken word, this new album by Daniel Mercellus Givens dispenses a handful of groove experiments following a 'black' and postmodern rhythmic tradition. Destructured sounds, full of cuts, jumps and narrative hyperboles sketch raw, poetic horizons of metropolitan life. The structures are hardly new, inspired by the abstract hip hop tradition embodied by Mo Wax and Ninja Tune in the last decade, but a researching attitude is nonetheless still alive, with a passion for a certain union of street stories, avant-garde vocals and a spiritual approach. 'Egress' unravels well, modulating images and concepts in a very pleasant and subdued listening experience, with many sensual variations merging into crooked, dilated and sensitive songs. It's a top notch work supported by state-of-the-art mixing, thanks to the collaboration with Fred Ones (Beans, Mike Ladd) and Rusty Santos (Animal Collective, Ariel Pink).
Aurelio Cianciotta