Dungeons & Drones is the first EP by Rosapolvere, an archaeologist of the bleakest synths far from reality who in his new work launches into a sonic quest worthy of the best video game narratives.

Dungeons & Drones was born out of a visceral passion, a plunge into a strongly fantasy imagery where anything can happen, also thanks to the shadowy atmospheres suspended in nothingness to which his music contributes. It is an EP that draws heavily from the cinematic moods of Guillermo Del Toro and the novels of Mervyn Peake, erecting palaces of layered synths and delivering vocals to samples extrapolated from a variety of media.

The references to the Gormenghast saga, a trilogy of gothic-fantasy novels written by Mervyn Peake in the 1950s, are blatant and concur with the artist’s main purpose: to generate a setting from sound and make it as tangible as possible. To do so, Rosapolvere makes copious use of vocal samples and readings, such as two interviews with Guillermo Del Toro in addition to a performance by Dorthine, the EP’s only featuring, who offers a reading from the basic manual of Mork Borg, a role-playing game created by Pelle Nilsson.

The pronounced intertextual quotations contribute perfectly to the world-building of Rosapolvere, an artist with the goal of returning the listener to a fantasy world that is strongly out of the ordinary, destabilizing and fragmenting and, if possible, even a bit frightening. Darker synths mingle with more ethereal melodies and cozier percussion, tracing an up and down of pathos while listening to just 4 tracks. If from the first few listens it seems as if one is heading to a dark and cramped place, the ending seems to want to lift the listener’s spirits as if after a long “run” in the tunnels the dungeon opens to the sunlight.

Dungeons & Drones offers the side to a personal player’s interpretation within it: synthetic percussive elements along with carpets of modular drones accompany the journey of the hero, the listener, leaving him free to explore and tell his story so as to glide the mind into distant worlds or new dungeons.

Dungeons & Drones is Rosapolvere’s first solo EP and is released on January 24, 2025 by Harker Tapes.

Delta

26 januari 2025
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