Andrea Caccese
Icarus Falling / Set The World On Fire

LA RECENSIONE

With lo-fi and minimal production, acoustic guitars and electric feedbacks reign supreme in Andrea Caccese's debut EP, "Icarus Falling / Set the world on fire".

This four-track EP, released on 7'' vinyl and in a digital version (free download), was recorded by Andrea with limited means during his travels across Europe at the end of 2010, in hotel rooms, squats, pubs, and apartments. Despite the "do it yourself" approach to recording, not done in a real studio, the songs possess an organic and homogeneous sound, and each of them takes the listener to a different place, as if somehow the locations and moments were also captured by the microphones. The fascinating thing about this EP is that although it is primarily built around the acoustic guitar, other elements such as electric guitars and cello come in, broadening the possibilities and sound spectrum that would be difficult to cover with just guitar and voice.

In terms of musical style, it's alt-folk with post-rock influences (an evident mix in the first track "Icarus Falling"), with nods to 60s pop ("Set the world on fire") and more minimal atmospheres bordering on ambient (the instrumental "Playing with ghosts"). The EP closes with a song that at first might seem like the classic guitar and voice piece a bit reminiscent of Damien Rice, except the song's conclusion surprises with the roar of electric guitars bordering on noise.

This EP consists of only four songs, which offer a pleasant taste of this young songwriter's work and, in my opinion, make much more sense if listened to one after the other, something that unfortunately happens less frequently in the digital age.

More information and a free download of the EP are available on the artist's official site.