The Last Five Minutes - Blind End Now

Released: September 6

The Last Five Minutes is a collaborative effort between guitarist/bassist Alberto Carozzi and laptop sound tinkerer Matteo Uggeri. While the two regularly play together, the process behind the creation of Blind End Now appears to be more asynchronous, with the two artists bouncing recorded pieces between each other and cleverly editing things together into a cohesive piece. Each track features and typically starts out with some unbalanced vinyl crackle loops on repeat. There isn’t quite a rhythm to these pieces, though it feels like the proto-element to the rhythms that comes later on in each track. But these vinyl loops form the foundation on which the bass is played without any particular regard for a steady tempo. 

To speak on the bass, it stays generally consistent in its affinity toward a mid-range kind of tone, plucking out these mini-rhythmic sequences throughout. But with the introduction of the rhythmic elements from Uggeri, the bass takes on a different role. Instead of standing apart from the beats, it almost seems to become a part of it and plays in quite nicely on the deep hits from the kicks. Now, as you must have guessed, the overall tone of the album is a quiet and wobbly vibe with the soft but still slightly abrasive sounds of vinyl crackling providing a backdrop to tight kick and an assortment of percussion that occupies whatever space it chooses to at the time. The minimal elements of each track, usually consisting of but a few parts, allow each element a unique space to breathe. 

This is the facet of this album that stands out the most to me - the atmosphere. It’s not exactly dark and cavernous, but everything is flavored with just the right kind and amount of reverb to bring it out, notably in the percussion. The kicks hit surprisingly hard, the various pieces of auxiliary percussion pieces feel randomized at times then slowly morph into consistency, and the treatment of the aforementioned vinyl loops just adds to the fidgety and ghostly atmosphere.