Mushy

Mushy
Faded Heart
[Mannequin,2011]

after 7 years exploring the global underground dark wave and experimental scenes, with collaborations with thierry muller and mater suspiria vision, mushy (aka italy's valentina f.) finally unveils her own double sided peon to the darkness. deeply influenced by cocteau twins, grouper, nico, angels of light and the 80s minimal wave movement 'faded heart' lolls in an undertow of lo-fi atmospherics ranging from dream-pop delight to nighmarish nocturnal terrors. the tools are analogue drum machines, processed guitars, burbling and droning synths and mushy's own sirenesque voice.the effect lands somewhere between 'the spoils'-era zola jesus, the grandiose sound of tamaryn and for older touchstones the depths of the glacial 4ad back catalogue or even industrial pioneers coil.

Using the medium of Valentina's musical expression, ‘Faded Heart' is able to produce soundscapes which open the listener's doors to strangely nigthmarish illuminated “nocturnal sacrality”. The sound architecture reveals a charming world, made by the mixture of analog drum machines loops and an effect-processed bad off acoustic guitar found in a flea market with only 4 strings, burgeoning cold drones, tempestuous noises, spectral chants which rise at the surface.

For the lo-fi atmospheres and the tales of lost loves, ‘Faded Heart' might be considered the italian answer to the magnificient Zola Jesus release ‘The Spoils' on Sacred Bones (NY). Home-recorded, ‘Faded Heart' was lately mixed and processed at Mannequin studio by Alessandro Adriani with a full analog setup. Valentina describes the album thus “The songs are a one-sided dialogue with my soul, a desperate and melanchonic psychedelia. The music is a repetitive and obsessive loop drum/ synth / acoustic guitar pattern with an ethereal processed by effects voice on it. You can consider it as my personal second reading of blues music”.