Moontology
“Moontology is my expression of the intimate beauty in life and otherworlds”. Mikele Montolli
Mikele Montolli is an Italian composer & bass player living in London. His original music combines contemporary classical elements with afro-jazz and other world influences. This album is collaborative soundscape full of emotion and reflection, Each track tells a personal story through intricate arrangements and pure instrumental textures.
“Moontology”
The title track Moontology was born as a piano solo but as I was improvising on it with a very high pitched synth I started hearing a conversation between violins, which Ying Xue, 2nd violinist of the Doric Quartet , interpreted with the perfect amount of intimacy and fragility. The drums were recorded in Denmark by Martin Maretti Andersen, who became my great friend on mine on a tour in Indonesia. His idea of the Bartok style snare drumming and amazing cymbalism makes a strong contribution to this piece , giving it that orchestral feel .
“Stellaria”
Stellaria is an elegy to two guitarists that passed away too young and were an important part of my young musical life. Indeed all started from this guitar arpeggio. I was so fascinated by the sound of strings that I decided to arrange the guitar part into a string quartet. Ying recorded the violins and viola part , and I am taking on the cello part with my doublebass . The violins and the viola solo are reflecting the words of grief and laments we sometimes would like to direct to a world we cannot reach, where good friends rest.
“Palace of Dreams”
Palace of Dreams was inspired by the novel of Albanian writer Ismail Kadarè and has an intriguing and dark bass line that always reminded me of the Balkan Folklore.
To keep into the traditional vibes I asked Manuel Alejandro Rangel to contribute with his amazing maracas. Venezuela has an incredible maracas tradition and Manuel is one of its greatest exponents. While listening to the work in progress I felt that the sound of a vibraphone could compliment the track. I rang up Chase Jackson in California. We had toured the Uk with a Detroit project and I knew he could easily record remotely because he's got a beautiful home studio in L.A. Chase laid down so many incredible solos that gave me a hard time deciding which one to choose . He also gave me the permission to mess around with his comping parts and thanks to his vibraphone part, Palace of Dreams has a really oneiric side to it.
“Quang Dug”
Quang Duc was a Buddhist monk who immolated himself during the American occupation of Southern Vietnam. The track starts with a double-bass bowed part, which takes inspiration from Bach’s cello suites . This turned out to be rather difficult to perform , with low notes and high harmonics resonating at the same time . I spent many days practising it and trying to record it to acceptable standards .
I thought it could be a cool duet with drums , so I gave a white canvas to Martin to do his thing. After layering the drums I asked Mirko Cisilino, a great Italian trumpeter if he liked the idea of recording a melody and improvising a solo. He got back with 3 horn parts : a unison of trumpet and trombone and a beautiful Flugelhorn voice. To enhance the story of the monk's immolation I then asked him to record various effects with those horns. The result is quite psychedelic and moving. It painted the people witnessing the sacrifice, the screams , the sound of fire cracking away.
“Istantblue”
Istantblue was inspired by a recent trip I did with my father to Turkey . The first part is reflecting the breath of history which blows over the gulf's waters and in the darkness of the ancient roman aqueduct, while the second reflects more the modern, upbeat life and the busy colourful streets. Istantblue is all produced in London , I overdubbed the electric bass parts and then recorded the percussionist Ant Romero, who brought mediterranean and arabic influences to the track.
“Speak to me”
Speak to me is also recorded in London and is the only ''live'' track. I went to Rick Simpson's house and we recorded his beautiful grand piano which takes up half of his living room. It's a romantic ballad that talks about the struggle of long distance communication , something that I stumbled on a few times in my past .
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