The acquatic and marine imagery drawn by the titles and the artwork for The Gentle Whale, Italian musician and producer Francesco Lurgo’s second LP, the first one for Silentes, out today on September 23rd, 2024 on CD and all digital platforms, are a metaphor for a sound that is liquid and like the sea is constantly shifting from the quietness of intimate ambient moments to waves of maximalist sonic pressure, always looking with admiration to the creative world of contemporary soundtracks.

From this sonic fluid, arpeggios and themes played by melancholic post-rock guitars and plucky synths that would be at home in IDM or deconstructed electro, emerge to affirm the love for melodies as the backbone of Lurgo’s production.

Compared to his 2022 solo debut, Sleep Together Folded Like Origami, with an introspective mood resulting from the lockdown times in which it was born, Lurgo presents a more saturated and dark record, between ups and downs and dense walls of sound, mirror of a work developed in an urban and frenetic environment.

The title track, The Gentle Whale, was chosen as first excerpt supported by a video created by Lurgo himself, also a professional film-maker. The track, with an organic, almost tactile progression, derives exclusively from acoustic sound sources, however heavily manipulated. According to Lurgo: «This track, The Gentle Whale, is a delicate watercolor. In its title there are two important references: the fascination for aquatic elements, a constant source of aesthetic and synaesthetic inspiration, and a trait of playfulness almost like a child’s fairy tale».

The record features additional production and mastering by frequent collaborator Emilio Pozzolini (port-royal, Earth Begins) and, on two tracks, violins performed by Vito Gatto.