iosonouncane – IRA

Up-and-coming Brits Black Midi and uber-revered Sweet Trip both release an album. The “Album of the Month” section was all set to celebrate either of these indie juggernauts. No chance that hundred minutes long Italian album snatches the trophy.

And yet it did. Despite deserving all jabs thrown at its overreliance on certain metal and/or folk genres, Sputnikmusic still allows itself to embrace some detours from its well-established flagship genres, the latest deviation coming from IOSONOUNCANE – Italian for “IAMADOGGO”, and stage name of Jacopo Incani. After eight minutes of relative calm split between the first two tracks, “ashes” allows tension to rise to never let it decrease: from then on, mad and reflective moments take turns to instigate a mood always content to frighten the shit out of you, whether your tripes are tightened because of an eerie tribalistic passage or because post-industrial razors cut through your guts (RIP Kentaro Miura). Fortunately, IRA never crosses the Rubycon of ugliness, even in its most unnerving moments; rather evoking how extreme beauty can be. This attitude to offer the most bizarre art possible also shows itself in the lyrics, a hotchpotch of Italian, English, Spanish, and French, without any sense of continuation; “rising el rajul oublié” being an authentic-and-absolutely-not-modified excerpt of the album.

IRA is the ultimate testimony of the richness of the current musical catalog. Sure, fodder albums will still be thrown at us, bands will continue to slightly disappoint us, hyped bands will continue to rise (and fall). IOSONOUNCANE falls into neither of these categories, proving once again that in an age of overconsumption and overproduction, the most unique albums will inevitably find their way to people’s hearts. – Erwann S.