Starlight Assembly is the new project of Italian sound artist and musician Matteo Uggeri and British singer-songwriter and musician Dominic Appleton (Breathless). They have released a new album called Starlight And Still Air which is out now via Portland based label Beacon Sound.
It was mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri and features Sharon Shahani (backing vocals), Gayatri Lyndsey Robertson (backing vocals), Anna Mioni (bass), Mattia Costa (drums), Simone Riva (drums), Andrea Serrapiglio (cello), Franz Krostopovic (violin and viola), Vittorio Ondedei (acoustic guitar, bass), Alessandro Sesana (trumpet), Cristano Lupo (bass) and Francesco Giannico (piano).
Listen below and check the full story.
In early 2019, Dominic Appleton met up for lunch in London with 4AD founder Ivo Watts-Russell while the long-retired label boss was visiting from his home in New Mexico. Who better to encourage Appleton to take the plunge into his first songwriting collaboration outside of longtime band Breathless than the man who invited him so many years ago to contribute vocals to Filigree & Shadow and Blood, two classic albums by This Mortal Coil, Watts-Russell’s collaborative supergroup? At the time of their lunch, Appleton had already agreed to work on an album with Italian composer and producer Matteo Uggeri but was suffering from a minor crisis of confidence. As he told British writer Barry Fry last year, “I loved the music (Matteo) sent me and had agreed to work with him but was dragging my heels. It was a confidence thing, it’s hard to be openly creative and expressive with someone you’ve never met. I needed a push out of my comfort zone and Ivo gave me an encouraging kick up the arse.” Lucky for us, thanks to Uggeri’s persistence and Ivo-Watts’ timely encouragement, we have Starlight And Still Air, their stunning, memorable, and downright addictive debut album as Starlight Assembly.
Drawing on a foundation of song-oriented electronic music while hewing to no single genre, Starlight And Still Air conjures up a sound palette that is both redolent and familiar yet very much its own. It is accessible, yes, but its layered complexity, evocative lyrics, and deft use of field recordings will likewise keep deep listeners tuned in. After the skittering drums and un-moored rhythms that introduce opening track ‘Afternoon Update’, the album settles into itself, unfurling a run of songs that could each be a standalone single yet also work perfectly together as a fully-realized song cycle. Askew yet deeply grounded and personal, featuring beats that lock in over a bed of dubby low end, songs like ‘Cold Sun’, ‘There Is No Crisis To Come’ and ‘Look What We’ve Wasted’ have a propulsive, move-your-body intensity that demand attention. ‘Still Air’ sounds like a lost gem from the edges of trip-hop. ‘Looking For Clues’, with its siren strings and relatable frustration, is taut and wiry, ending with the sound of boots walking. ‘The Long Goodbye’ and ‘Bloodlines’ move at a slower pace with their respective nods to partnership, mortality, and the familial. All ten tracks are centered around the melancholic, ambiguous lyrics of Dominic Appleton and his sonorous, instantly-recognizable voice.
Starlight And Still Air begs for a long drive across troubled yet soothing landscapes; it treads the line between pop-forward and something more idiosyncratic and resistant to being captured.