What: “Le quattro stagioni versione drone” by Andrey Kireyev
Netlabel: Nostress Netlabel
Translated to English, the title of this one is “The four seasons drone version.” Maybe a tribute to, or perhaps inspired by, the original “The Four Seasons” by Antonio Vivaldi. But be forewarned – this ain’t your parents Vivaldi.
Russian artist Andrey Kireyev presents us with four 16-minute tracks, each named after one of the seasons. It’s full of drones (big surprise, right?) and either electronically treated natural sounds or electronic facsimiles of nature. It does a great job of acoustically representing each season. “La Primavera (Spring),” for example, welcomes us with chirping bird sounds before some drones are added to the mix. The sound of children playing enters about half way through, completing the scene. There is a very nice lightness to the sounds on this track. On the other hand, “L’Inverno (Winter)” is ushered in with a cold wind and more harsh drone sounds. The sounds of dead leaves blowing and crunching snow also make appearances; I got cold just listening to it.
Overall this is a nice concept that is very nicely executed. It’s tasteful from the cover art down to the last note of music.
This piece was released in June, 2014 on the Nostress Netlabel out of Palermo, Italy. Since 2011 they have released albums under a number of genres (Psychedelic, Post Rock, Avant-garde, Electronic and Electroacoustic). They also offer some limited edition CD and vinyl of some of their releases, also periodically offers opportunities for artists to play live.