We’ve all felt that ache in the pit of our stomachs when a laptop or some similarly confounding device fails us after hours of hard labour. Imagine the great works created and prematurely lost in the years since computer tech became central to the creative process.
Francis M. Gri’s new album Apart features three pieces, two of which date back to a stretch of time between 2003 and 2005. Gri had completed work on a hard drive that he couldn’t get to load. All he had access to was a set of individual sections.
In a fit of admirable optimism, Gri set about reworking the material. “In This Room” and “Hidden Reflections,” two titles that gently reflect what must have been a frustrating experience, are the result. He added a third new piece called “Last.” We certainly hope that all of them do.
Gri has applied a lovely set of effects to this drone/synth/guitar project. The length of the three pieces – they clock in at just under 25, 16 and 12 minutes each – constitute a meditative listening experience. The drones are central to each track, but there are other layers at work to draw us in.
Gri shared the story on his website last year: “I found in my backup HD the firsts recordings made from the unpublished Apart albums … recorded in 2003 and 2005. Nothing special honestly.
“I tried to open the track sessions but my current recording software wasn’t able to run [the] Pro Tools old version. So I decided, just for fun, to take the best samples from the audio folders, and rework them [to make] new music. … No new tracks were added, all you can [hear] are the original samples stretched, detuned, reversed and effected.”
Gri is based in Milan, Italy where he runs the KrysaliSound label. He first picked up a guitar at 13. He then moved to piano and signed on with a dark ambient act called All My Faith Lost.
Whitelabrecs has re-released the album in both digital and physical formats.