Inteletto D'amore

"Polish electronic musican Paul Wirkus processes new narratives out of the hieroglyphs of digital dysfunction. Wirkus is no cutting edge iconoclast - more significantly, he is a serious musican deserving wider attention." (Keith Moliné, The Wire) This CD – the music on which could broadly be described as "minimal electronica" – is Paul's third release under his own name. The first was a cassette by the title of "Echo" on Gusstaff Records (which also saw a release on CD-R, albeit limited to 50 copies). This first solo-outing was followed by the cd "Mimikry" on the same label. This time, he didn't want to be too experimental and just rely on the powers of combination of the work itself. The music on this release was created live with several MiniDisc-players hooked up to effects instead of, as one might think, by editing processes done with computers. Thus the tracks have a warmer, more organic character than most other electro-acoustic music. Accidents, coincidences, minute shifts and "aural snap shots" characterise this music. In contrast to earlier solo-outings, not only samples of strings and piano and white noise are to be heard, but also generated analogue sounds, fragmentary melodies and even vocals. One of the tracks on which he sings is called 'blask' which roughly translates to 'shimmer', a word that characterises his music very well. Paul is primarily concerned with the sound of the voice itself, his lyrics are more or less "open". Searching and finding. Sometimes, he says, it takes some time to realise that you've already got what you want. "'Inteletto d'Amore' is low-key, diminutive even - but like the small door through which Alice gains entrance to Wonderland, it profers a host of possibilities. (...) This rich soundscape manages to enact a sonic reconciliation between technology and nature. At least that's the initial impression though it's gradually overtaken by the sense of being in a malignant, unsettling place where the listener is unwelcomed by both nature and industry. (...) 'Inteletto d'Amore' is frequently reminiscent of Brian Eno's On Land transposed into the currency of digital concerns. (...) a modest, but fascinating work." (Colin Buttimer, BBC Online)

Inteletto d'Amore is an honest record of "soft" experimental electronica, but it lacks character to make it stand out among the piles of releases from the Austro-German scene -- despite the fact that Paul Wirkus is not devoid of originality in his approach.