A floating drift toward a mysterious reality, between Nature and Cosmos, poised between sleep and wakefulness, temporal co-presences and impossible spatial ubiquities. In this phantasmagorical saga, inspired by TV science-fiction as well as 60s and 70s horror movies, Nicola Giunta/Lay Llamas creates a miraculous balance between original inserts and retrievals of freely chosen fragments from old audio documentaries on vinyl, perfecting the art of sound collage in an absolutely psychedelic way. Nonlinear dream textures become labyrinths of sudden openings, empty rooms, interstellar platforms, narrating voices from other worlds or ghostly churches from beyond the grave. A piercing electronica of cosmic synths, dense with the mists and dusts of distant times, past and future at the same time, where lysergic percussions merge with echoes of flutes vibrating in endless tropical forests and natures. Until the final awakening, in the reality of the first light of dawn. Originally released on cassette by Miracle Pond.

Nicola Giunta and Gioele Valenti (the musicians creating the Lay Llamas dimension) seem to communicate from a different solar system their ecstatic gaze towards an imaginary future world. They rely mainly on a narrative tone of mysterious and spectral dark-psych shades, digging abyss of glacial depht of the self, where light filters through lysergic languors and radiant progressions of luminous dust. Oneiric voices refer to the hybrid chaos of a metropolitan jungle, as a hypnotic and psychic dimension of mind layers. Goud is steeped in numerous literary, mythological, philosophical, ecological and alchemical references. Pulsating and magnetic Farfisa, mesmeric basses and flutes or poisonous pinkfloydian and krautrock patterns forge a clear divinatory aspect of the music. The trip ends in the dark night of the forest, with more acoustic flavours and percussive incense of pure acid-folk. The beautiful cover by Virginia Genta by Jooklo, with her amoebic-cosmic graphics, seems to perfectly seal the sound inspiration of one of the most advanced forges of Italian neo-psychedelia.

Backwards Records presents the new Lay Llamas release: the new 7" in gold-coloured vinyl by Lay Llamas, moniker behind which the Sicilian musician and composer Nicola Giunta is hidden. The single will contain two tracks: on Side A "Malophòros" composed together with the shaman singer Alfio Antico - former collaborator of Fabrizio De Andrè, Tullio de Piscopo and Vinicio Capossela - at frame drum and voice. The piece sounds like an improbable mixture between the Nuova Compagnia Di Canto Popolare and the Master Musicians Of Bukkake! The text, written by Antico, is recited in Sicilian dialect and is inspired by the Sanctuary of the 5th century B.C. dedicated to the goddess Demeter whose ruins are located in the Archaeological Park of Selinunte (Sicily). The Sanctuary was a sacred place for the ancient Greek colonists in Sicily and there rituals and sacrifices were held there in order to ingratiate themselves with the divinity. On the B side the track "Mondi Di Pietra" reminds to the Franco Battiato of the "Pollution / Sulle Corde Di Aries" period. The text, in Italian, provides a mythological and esoteric vision of the Mediterranean world understood as a passage zone and cradle of ancient cultures.

The mastering was curated by the English musician and producer Sonic Boom (Spacemen 3, Spectrum, Panda Bear, MGMT) at the New Atlantis Studio. The artwork is made by the Catalan artist Daniel Puiggros. Starting from March 30th, 2018, pre-order will be active on www.backwards.it and on Backwards bandcamp page. "On the A side of this 7" the meeting between the master Alfio Antico and the Lay Llamas takes place: materially occurred at the Bunker Studio of Arquà Petrarca (PD), but ideally officiated at the sanctuary of Demetra Malophòros, at Selinunte in Sicily (dating back to V century BC). Nicola Giunta of Lay Llamas has lived for years in that magical area and has asked Alfio Antico to become a sort of shaman, leading towards an indefinite temporal journey. So Antico begins his narration towards the temple of Demetra, telling us that "quannu un tempu nunera tempu and no stissu tempu was tempu now ca semu of a great tempu forsi, nun c'tempu, forsi". Here then the antique frame drum and its voice tell us, in the Sicilian archaic dialect the mythological deeds of the Goddess of fertility and agriculture and the vicissitudes of its worshipers: the peasants ("you ca facisti masters and criasti armiggi ppi the earth ") and women (" Demetra our matri natura jè! "). On the B side the song "Mondi di Pietra", sung in Italian, combines suggestions of worlds (apparently) very distant: the Mediterranean and the Italian 70s, the kosmische folk, the pseudo archeology and the vetero-astronomy of the books of Peter Kolosimo, the minimalism of Terry Riley 

TRACK LISTING

A1: Malophoros (with Alfio Antico)
B1: Mondi Di Pietra 

The Lay Llamas, who consist of the Sicilian-born and raised but now Rome-based duo of Gioele Valenti and Nicola Giunta, release their debut album 'Ostro' on Rocket. Recorded in an old-house in the Segesta countryside of Sicily, Valenti and Giunta soaked up the history-imbued environment. The makeshift studio was located alongside the great Temple of Hera that dates all the way back to 6th century BC “We’ve been so influenced by the place’s mood, with that ancient presence in the air” says Valenti. These recording sessions have resulted in a heavily layered album, filled (but not clogged) with various instrumentation from the expected guitars, bass, synth and drums to the more unexpected sounds of Tibetan Bells and Ukulele.

Like any successful duo, harmony and contradiction are equally important artistic traits in their working relationship. Between the two they take in a continent-leaping, platform-splitting array of personal influences that then seeps into their lysergic output. Purely on a musical level there is a joint love of artists such as Ennio Morricone they then split off into the structured and the song heavy (Angels of Light, Nick Drake, Mike Scott) to the rhythmic, both the hypnotic and groove-laden sort (Fela Kuti, Broadcast, Sun Araw, Kraftwerk). Italian tradition plays a pivotal role too with the creeping tones and floating atmospheres of 60’s and 70’s Italian library and soundtrack music playing a subtle supporting-role.

This breadth of personal influences can be found in the emphasis of ‘Ostro’, it’s a constantly shifting record, never remaining stuck or fixated on anything for too long. Crossing continents, be it musically, stylistically or physically, seems to be something the pair return to over and over again, the subtle radiations of Africa that can be heard on the record are no accident, “I think that Sicilians are more like Africans than Europeans in some way. We have almost the same weather and architecture. We feel in our soul the same feeling of all Mediterranean people – a fatalistic instinct of drama. But in our music, Africa is such a metaphysical place, not so geographical, such a map on the sheet of the soul, connecting with ancient rites of Sun, different levels of enlightenment; a sense of a mystical path to follow.” Valenti offers. “A mystical path to follow” is perhaps the most apt description of 'Ostro'.

Whilst the duo work from a shared vision that places keen focus on stream-of-consciousness approaches or, as Valenti puts it “A prismatic panorama, or well, a BRAINMATIC PANORAMA!” there really is an ambiguity, an uncertainness and a sense of the unknown, the otherworldly and the mystical when traversing through the vast spheres of the record. The pair’s own descriptions of some of the album’s tracks are testament to the sprawling, shifting, mass of it all “Suicide and Oneida dancing together around a big campfire” – “Pagan post-punk!” – “a slow march for psychedelic warriors on the unknown planet” – “gospel-dub” – “A bad trip”. And a “trip” it certainly is, some records aim to exist by not coming from a particular place but to exist in the transitions and journeys in-between them. Be them real, mystical or imaginary, present or past, the focus is on the movement rather than the end destination and the Lay Llamas’ debut album 'Ostro' is most certainly one such record.

TRACK LISTING

01. Ancient People Of The Stars
02. We Are You
03. The Lay Llamas
04. Desert Of Lost Souls
05. Overmind
06. Archaic Revival
07. Something Wrong
08. In Search Of Plants
09. Voices Call