O

Italian musician and producer Paolo Petrella aka Roy Cleveland debuts on Elemental with his album “O”. He is a product of the Italian Conservatory of music in Napoli, Italy. A talented bassist, he describes himself as fitting into no particular genre, although he does profess to delve into glitchy minimal electro. This album entitled O (meaning circle) is so called as he wants the tracks to be seamless without pause, with each track melting into the next and rising up from the previous.

“O – #1” sets us off on the album, sharp edged synth chords rise up and constantly transform from smooth to glitchy seamlessly. Superb basses infect the sound and an array of quality FX add lots of texture. Very clever and forward thinking and no need to adjust your speakers as the sound effect may have you believe.

“O – #2” has much more of the qualities as the first track did, totally raw, organic sounds with some brilliant work on the frequency controls. A warm synth teases through the sea of sound and fades out leaving you waiting for more.

“O – #3 (Riots)” brings a warm synth to the fore, chopped up drum samples and more electro samples are processed beyond recognition, again we see lots of glitchy sounds and by the very concept of the album, those sounds fit beautifully.

“O – #4” takes on a much more formulaic approach with beats becoming slightly more prominent, a darker side takes shape with hard edged beats and gritty basses. All this is accompanied by a multitude of organic FX which marry up brilliantly.

“O – #5” takes us to the end of the journey with some eerie melodic sequences beginning to form out of strange synth patterns. A deep and dark bass resonates as this structure takes shape and again the FX work is top notch. Something different and definitely something to think about as this array of sounds raids your senses.