My prior listening notes for Du noir tout autour (Blackness Al Around) state ’good, a bit Stockhausen in parts’ and ’extraordinary’ and on this third listen I’m no less impressed. It’s obvious that Armando is well versed in advanced manipulation of sound, and he’s also quoted a s quite an active improvising artist, and first came to the attention of the wider public as one of the finalists of the Prix Russolo 2016-17 competion.

Containing just three big pieces, the disc opens with Black Garden, credited as an eight part work in which elements of the three “Noir” phases are also revisited in the following tracks. My immediate impression of the opening this time is that it’s not so far removed from Boguslaw Schaeffer’s similarly Hymnen like (Stockhausen-esque) works on the Edition RZ releases Inventionen 1 and 2. It goes through a number of phases, with the final section the icing on the cake. Empty Garden then follows more subtly at the start, with environmental sounds, including footsteps, carrying the piece along, and again it culminates with a powerful phase. Light Garden opens with a record run-off and crackle, and then grows with grandiose electronic tones heralding two peaks during its length.

All impressive stuff, and with great use of combining acoustics, musique concrete and electronics, ranging from the subtle to the almost mind-blowing.