Luton - Black Box Animals (2018)

‘Black Box Animals’ is the debut release from the Italian duo, Luton, formed in 2017 by Roberto P. Siguera and Attilio Novellino. The album is a textural feast of classically composed phrasing and heavily tar-coated mechanics. Crawling abstract electronic structures meld seamlessly into a wide array of electro-acoustics, built upon a fine edge that is focused on mood as much as melody. With each piece Luton deliver their own curious venom, striving for contrast, never settling into a predetermined genre.

Contradiction permeates ‘Black Box Animals.’ Caution and weariness are etched into its themes. Luton feeds this uncertainty with its ability to create deeply affecting landscapes, as isolated and claustrophobic as they are warm and disarming. Within these dim seductions, a perplexing balance resides, something so familiar and primal, yet in the same breath so foreign and cryptic. In truth, the more human, acoustic aspects of Luton’s sound are so tightly woven to that of the machine, one would be hard pressed to find any edges at all.

‘Black Box Animals’ was recorded around Europe with Luton Sinfonietta Orchestra, during several sessions of improvisation and post production in Stockholm, Manchester, Munich and Turin. In addition to the orchestral scores, written by Rob, both musicians played various other instruments including classical guitar, ancient Russian zither, piano, electric bass and guitars, e-bow, pedals and electronics. All tracks were finalized by Attilio in order to find their otherworldly magic.

The album shares some of the moodiness and frantic delivery of Deaf Center or even Ben Frost’s works for film. Elsewhere, the intense drive and alchemic meld of electro-acoustic elements recall the likes of Rafael Anton Irisarri or Tim Hecker. While Luton find commonalities with these modern masters, ‘Black Box Animals’ makes an impression all its own, creating an array of complex emotions, leaving us feeling a bit dirty, humbled, inexplicably at ease, perhaps off guard just enough to reshape our damaged conscious into a form of its own likeness.