SOLYARIS MUSIC



Western Detunes

... Album Cover

Music compositions, performances and mastering by Giorgio Robino
Instruments: standard electric guitar, 6 strings electric lap steel guitar, delays

Delivered initially on February 2005,
updated with bonus track (Water's light - long version) on July 2005
Total time: 75:10. Audio format available: Audio CDR (single cd) / Download FLAC files.

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Tracks

Night's waltzloop

track 1, 3:30

Day's waltzloop

track 2, 5:17

Abracadabra

track 3, 14:11

American stagnation

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track 4, 10:57

Floating on the sea surface

track 5, 14:14

Water's light

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track 6, 5:20

Country lazyness

track 7, 9:52

Bye bye on the beach

track 8, 2:39

Water's light - long version

track 9, 9:00




Listeners' comments

"Western Detunes" impressed me immediately as guitar music I had been yearning to hear for years and suddenly here it was. So simple in its seeming complexity, it speaks to me as music untouched by human hands, a music that just "is." Quite simply, Giorgio's work here sounds written "in the stars," as if it describes some strange, mysterious and beautiful extra-terrestrial sea. There is a restrained psychedelic intensity to these pieces, much like the feelings evoked by Robert Rich's pioneering lapsteel soundscapes. The mood of the album is neither melancholy nor dark, but definitely mysterious and surreal.

Man this is a great album!!! Definitely one of the best of 2005, and in my opinion one of the best ambient guitar albums ever. Really fine work, a perfect album I would not change one note...

Chris Knowlton, San Francisco USA, 22 February 2006

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Giorgio Robino's CD, "Western Detunes" (Solyaris Music) is in a category unto itself...other-pitch entrainment, Windham Hill on LSD, a sort of Utopian rubber band. The rubber band metaphor refers to the stretching or elongating tones. The pitch bending does not follow stylistic conventions that one would hear in Asian or Arabic or blues music, but it has a style of its own that feels natural and uncontrived. The tonality and rhythmic sensibility create a pleasing emotional ambiance, relaxing yet not predictable.

You asked what utopian rubber band meant-- for me a utopian sound is a sound that feels perfect --an ideal state--since we don't live in an ideal state (unless I guess we're enlightened), there is a feeling of fantasizing about how we would like to be living and feeling. The rubber band of course refers to the glissandos.

Lisa Sangita Moskow, great sarod instrument artist: www.lisamoskow.com, CA USA, 17 September 2005

The debut album of Giorgio Robino recording under the moniker Solyaris is Western Detunes, a meditative journey created on treated lap steel and electric guitars and utilizing "symphonic hyper-overdubbing". Unfortunately for me as a reviewer it falls into the category of intriguing but hard to describe music. The closest, but fairly tenuous, points of comparison are sonically to the opening track of Pure by Boddy/Reuter, and stylistically to Jeff Pearce's To The Shores of Heaven.

Over the course of eight tracks ranging between three and half to over fourteen minutes we are taken to a world of half light, of half glimpsed or imagined sights and thoughts - a twilight world between humans and angels. The steely pointed tones of the guitars blend, weave, and interleave in different combinations on each of the tracks, conveying a feeling of mysteries that are only partially revealed.

The first track "Night's Waltzloop" is a gentle introduction to the album's magical touch. Sliding guitar "wah" sounds echo away like fading desires only to be replaced by others; and strummed metallic notes create a sense of rhythm. Further into the album the second longest track "Abracadabra" keeps up the usual mid-tempo pace, here notes bounce between the speakers while others are plucked and ripple off into the distance. The most "normally" ambient piece is arguably "American Stagnation" on which gently bulging drones are accompanied by ghostly caressing "wahs" varying in pitch and intensity.

It was the longest track "Floating on the Sea Surface" that made me think of To The Shores of Heaven. On this nearly fifteen minute long track all the usual elements we've encountered so far on Western Detunes are there. The main difference is that some of the refrains become more insistent and stretched out, it�s like looking out across a sea that is becoming choppy yet is surprisingly not scarey.

I can definitely state that Western Detunes is a unique ambient album. I'm impressed with how Giorgio has created hypnotic and spine tingling sounds that take one's mind to other realms. My only criticism is that it can become overwhelming after a while, and that repeated listens are needed to differentiate the tracks.

Dene Bebbington, http://www.melliflua.com/west-detunes.html, UK, 19 September 2005

We are very impressed with your CD. Your production clarity and depth are really awesome, with the fluidity of the sounds totally seeming untouched by human beings.

Phil Cassista, beautiful electric Celtic Harps maker: www.electricharp.com, NH USA, 20 August 2005

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I have heard all the tracks of Western Detunes. Really it has far more imaginative expression than a composed music, very unusual for Indian common ear. The ambience you have created reminds me 70's few movie tracks from India. Also no 1, 2 and 3 track has kind of Indian empathy. The guitar sounds great in all the tracks. For my own taste some of the bass tracks in no 4 and no 5 are very soothing. I like this album and recommend it for peace and expression of nature.

Pandit Debasish Bhattacharya, great guitarist, www.debashishbhattacharya.com, India, 15 August 2005

"Western Detunes" is a work of careful selection with a focus on calm and meditative atmospheres over showmanship or extended ambient atmospherics. It is the work of a very meticulous artist who leads with his heart. Solyaris hears what warms him without thinking and offers the listener only those sounds. This disc can thus be thought of as a selfless--indeed, spiritual-- collection of sonic offerings.
Like the timeless works of his peers Windy and Carl, Solyaris wants the listener to hear collectively without a focus on any specific track. This music can be listened to in its entirety; Solyaris has intended this music to be a gift that keeps on giving. And give it does. "Western Detunes" is a collection of gentle and soothing aural blankets to repeatedly wrap oneself in. Highly recommended.

Ben Fleury-Steiner, www.gearsofsand.net, USA, 15 August 2005

Western Detunes is a musical journey through a mythical landscape.
As I travel across the Texas high plains, the music becomes a soundtrack for the journey; the music is the field, I am the object. The music is the space through which I travel.
As I reach American Stagnation, I wonder where Giorgio Robino finds his inspiration, so far away in Italy. The piece reaches its changes slowly, like the desert, where details are sparse. I supply my own interpretation, like an impressionist painting, and can only wonder....
This is the function of 'ambient' music. Sr. Robino has taken this direction with a handful of steel guitar players, who paint with strings on a three dimensional canvas of sound. Your thoughts become lost in the painting as you travel; you are the center of the soundscape. The destination becomes inconsequential; the journey is the thing.
I look forward to the continuation of Robino's work. Western Detunes holds great promise of things to come.

A Charlie McDonald, Texas - USA, 24 July 2005

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Absolutely enjoyed listening to the album. The transparent plucking of the guitar strings and bowing effects in relation to the decaying delays works mesmerizing but in the end it lingers on too much as it remains in the same time format. Minor criticism for a very enjoyable album and I truly wonder how you would proceed with using the guitar in relation to looping. A fascinating study I'm so attached to me...

Vidna Obmana, great ambient music artist, www.vidnaobmana.be, Belgium, 15 July 2005

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I like your mp3. You are entering a realm of changing emotions in a subconscious place. This music will help people listen on the inside. That is where the children heard the lyrics of the Pied Piper.

Alan Fontana, www.clarencethecat.com, USA 12 July 2005

I just had the pleasure of hearing "Western Detunes" last night, and again this morning. This is beautiful, beautiful stuff! I love your CD! So spacious and yearning, as though you had captured every emotion of the beautiful and infinite sky.

Joy Rygwelski, MI - USA, 10 July 2005

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Interesting what your music does with TIME. It's a subtle gentle sound which fills the room. I love such music at night, maybe in free natureat lower volume. Anyway: Good work and away from usual drone-ambient.

Mathias Grassow, ambient music artist, www.mathias-grassow.de, Germany, 29 June 2005

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Really, Western Detunes is an utterly beautiful CD! I like your approach to music and your sense of creativity. I like how your steel guitar fits in with the other sounds in the songs, I think your tone is wonderful, and what you play has so much warmth and heart. It is a beautiful work of music that I will listen to again and again.

Susan Alcorn, musician/music critic, www.susanalcorn.net, TX-USA, 28 June 2005

Western Detunes came today! This is a great CD!
I now understand why folks compare it to Pink Floyd! Awesome stuff!

Jim Brenholts, PA USA, 25 June 2005

Your music reminds me of the first rays of sunlight. It is the perfect music to start one's day. The mix of guitar sounds noted by Jeff Pearce is indeed splendid: Great job, and please make sure to email me when your next CD is released. You can put me down for a copy right away! Western Detunes is easily one of the top five CDs of 2005... Now I wonder what our friend Jeff Pearce is up to!Thanks for some wonderful, innovative music!

Gordon Danis, NY USA, 19 June 2005

Mystic Radio is pleased to feature the unique and transcendental music of Solyaris. Our listeners around the world are in for a special treat that will both inspire and relax, as they tune in to his new album, Western Detunes

Padma Charlie Griffin, manager of: www.mysticradio.com, OR USA, 14 June 2005

I really like your stuff. I love the lap steel guitar, and I like what you do with it.
Using different instruments in this kind of music is what makes me love the genre so much.

Christopher Orczy, Harmonium ambient musician: www.christopherorczy.co.nz, New Zeland, 2nd June 2005

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I finally had the opportunity to listen to Western Detunes this evening.
I found your music very peaceful and introspective. Nicely done!

Bruce Kaphan, pedal-steel guitar artist: www.brucekaphan.com, NY USA, 1st June 2005

I listened to the MP3's on your web page. I enjoyed your freedom of movement in theory, and they are exactly as represented by your comments on the album. From what I could hear of the steel guitar, most were single string movements, and ascending melodies. Slow microtonal movements. I would like to hear more choral movement in both ascending and descending direction, without as much looping. The single string movement should come up a bit above the orchestral blending.

Jim Flinn, pedal-steel guitars maker: www.lonestarsteelguitar.com, TX, USA, 22 May 2005

I've converted and downloaded several of Giorgio's Western Detunes tracks into rotation on SteelRadio.com Listen Steel Radio now (www.scottysmusic.com/playlist.html). I'm sure our many thousands of listeners around the world will enjoy the soothing sounds of the Western Detunes style. Since the lap steel is where it all started, Giorgio's 21st century sound could be the sounds of things to come. A well produced CD; I look forward to hearing more.

Michael Scott, manager of web radio: www.SteelRadio.com, Missouri, USA 22 May 2005

Gli echi trasportano lievi onde sonore increspate da sparute note luccicanti. Le improvvisazioni lanciate nel soundspace sono scelte con cura e passione. Le sonorita' sono indubbiamente ipnotiche ma alla coscienza e' lasciata sufficiente lucidita' per apprezzare le rarefatte e brevi melodie (il tempo di un respiro) che ricorrono e si ricoprono vicendevolmente. Tutto molto bello.

Gianluca Pollaci, Italy, 10 May 2005

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I enjoyed "Western Detunes"! What I immediately appreciated was your use of higher pitched notes. Most people in the ambient realm tend to avoid those notes, preferring to stay in the areas that immediately sound "deep and murky". Your use of these notes (specifically on the slide guitar) adds a bit of sunlight to your music. Also enjoyable was your blending of the various guitars you used. Everything in your mix sounded just right to my ears.

Jeff Pearce, great ambient music artist: www.jeffpearce.com, Indiana USA, 4 May 2005

Solyaris music sound very pleasant and relaxing. It is exactly the kind of music that I like to unwind to on the way home from a tough day at the office

Ben Dugas, www.newagereporter.com, Luisiana USA, 4 May 2005

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I just received my copy of Western Detunes. Your new CD and it sounds great! I would recommend this to all. The CD is all done with guitar, delays and lap steel. The pieces are "light" as opposed to "dark" ambient with the guitar and delays setting the subtle rhythms and the lap steel soaring beautifully over it all. Good job Giorgio. Look forward to hearing more!

Harry Dibrell, Texas USA, 1 May 2005

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I got Western Detunes and listened to it this morning. You have some good ideas. I would love to hear you make a project with time to write and overdub a more complete, full sound rather than staying within this live/looping format. Your harmonic ideas would sound good in a fuller context. But I congratulate you for adventuring into this realm.

Robert Rich, one of my preferred ambient music artist: www.robertrich.com, CA USA, 1 May 2005

Western Detunes e' musica diluita nel tempo, languida ma positiva, non triste, con riferimenti psichedelici post-rock (Pink Floyd) ed ambient music (Jeff Pearce, Robert Rich). L'uso intensivo dell'echo per creare spazi e loops e' migliore nei brani piu' lenti, piu' controllato; il drone evolvente di Water's light e' sicuramente riuscito, la continuita' del suono e la durata del brano lo rendono compatto ed affascinante; le armonie sono molto tonali, un po' vicine a Jeff Pearce; I glissati della slide creano un interessante movimento ma senza mai emergere troppo; un CD che consiglio soprattutto per I brani Water's light ed American Stagnation, begli esempi di meditazione musicale. Un tuffo sognante in un'ancestrale liquido amniotico!

Western Detunes is time-dissolved music, languid but positive, non sad or gloomy, with references to psychedelic post-rock (Pink Floyd) and ambient music (Jeff Pearce, Robert Rich). Intensive use of delays that create spaces and loops is better on slow pieces, more controlled, evolving drone Water's light is very good, sound continuity and piece length make it compact and enchanting; harmonies are pretty tonal, close to Jeff Pearce sound, lap-steel slides create an interesting movement without emerge excessively. I suggest CD especially for pieces Water's light and American Stagnation, great examples of musical meditation. A dreamy dive in an ancestral amniotic liquid!

Luigi Felici, VST plug-ins creator and guitar artist: http://nusofting.liqihsynth.com, Italy, 27 April 2005

Congratulations on the release of your new CD! I like the sound.
I didn't realize until now that lap steel was often used by ambient artists.

Christopher McDonald, creator of Ambiloop sw: http://evenfall.com/ambiloop/, USA, 20 April 2005

Questa musica esprime un grido di aiuto, anche se non disperato, ed infine ricerca di serenità. L'anima danza nell'aria senza più ricordi e paure del passato. In galleggiando sull'acqua e luce sull'acqua l'anima vola finalmente alta, si alza e sembra metta le ali allontanandosi nel cielo sempre di più.

This music expresses a help cry, even if without desperation, and at last a pursuit of serenity. The soul dance in the air without memories and fears of the past. On floating on the sea surface and water's light the consciousness flight finally high, lifting up and it seem to put on wings going away on the sky more and more.

Anna Maria Rosina, Italy, 17 April 2005

I just wanted to say that I really like your music man. It's awesome. I don't know anything about you but you're music is so cool so thanks giving me the opportunity to listen to some great music.

Brenton Higgins, Florida, USA, 15 April 2005

Grande! mi è arrivato il bellissimo CD Western Detunes di Solyaris, veramente bello! L'ho ascoltato in silenzio senza nessuno in casa. Mentre ascoltavo i vari brani e, non avevo ancora letto i titoli, mi sembrava di fluttuare nell'acqua calda di qualche mare tropicale, le immagini si susseguivano lente e costanti. Sensazioni d'impalpabilità, oniriche e soprattutto naturali nel senso d'accostamento agli elementi naturali della madre terra. Acqua, luce e movimento. Si, ha generato emozioni! Bello! Un ottima colonna per documentari naturalistici!

Great! I just received beautiful Solyaris Western Detunes CD, Really amazing! I was listening music quietly, without anybody at home. When listening pieces, not yet having read titles, I have had the sensation of floating in warm water of some tropical sea; images followed one another slowly and steadily. Sensation of impalpability, dreamy mainly naturalistic images in the sense of matching to natural elements of mother earth. Water, light and movement. Yes, it generated good emotions!
Beautiful! A great music for naturalistic documentaries!

Luca Bernava, Italy, 10 March 2005

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