10 Waves Of You obviously is one of those one-man projects, otherwise writing that first paragraph would be a complete waste of time, let alone reading it. His name is Luca Crivellaro. He lives in Milano, Italy. He is influenced by ambient, post rock and psychedelic rock but he likes to takes things a bit heavier once in a while. He is, and I'm going big with this announcement, the Boards Of Canada of post-rock.
Like many solo acts do, 10 Waves Of You incorporates a lot of electronics, which often results in sounding like downtempo electronic music, enhanced by melodic guitars. Is that good? Well, not always but here it definitely is. It makes 'Seeds Of Life' a beautiful piece of work, rhythmic, a bit repetitive and dreamy. Perhaps saying Plaid meets Maybeshewill isn't too farfetched at all and I'm really glad this act found us.
Two songs contain modest, shoegaze-resembling vocals but the rest is completely instrumental. That usually is a good thing for this moody, atmospheric music, and here it is too. When used, the vocals remain in the background. In fact, the combination of narrative voices, piano and bass turn 'First Lights Of Venus' into a beautiful ballad, a bit dark jazz meets cinematic post rock even. In all, it's a quite impressive song.
The only thing I'm not so certain about is the sound of the distorted guitar which appears in songs like opener 'Darth Vader' and 'Clouds'. It sounds cold, mechanic and in sheer contrast to the warm, soothing atmosphere of the rest of the music. In the previously mentioned 'First Light Of Venus', that sound is also present, but more suiting to the rest of the song. It's a strange contradiction of sounds but at the same time it's not completely out of place. Just odd.
The guitar sound doesn't harm the overall quality of this album, which is already quite high to begin with. I must say that I'm quite impressed by this act. This is a calm, dreamy album with plenty of variation and a highly immersive atmosphere. It certainly comes highly recommended to post-rock fans and to downtempo electronica fans alike. Maybe, it wasn't intended to sound like a blend of both but it does and it's a damn interesting sound.
Serge