Itto - Sound On An Empty Road
Itto is the combined efforts of Ian Holloway and Neil Rowling, who together produce tense and subtle drone work of the highest caliber. "Sound on an Empty Road," released on a label that has since changed name to Quiet World, has a very limited run of fifty copies.
A little shy of thirty-nine minutes in duration, the stand-alone drone-ambient piece is everything its title implies and more. Comprised mainly of tonal modulations and effects-laden guitar and synth work, the music gently grinds and hovers over a road that is indeed quite desolate. Soft and melancholy piano notes are interjected through a wide portion of the track, fragile moments of color that swim just out of focus underneath a placid surface of flowing drones. Pitch-shifted ripples wash over this misty, forgotten pond, situated as it is alongside a path less traveled. The edges of Itto's lonely landscape of sound are vague and blurred, rather than sharply defined. As "Sound on an Empty Road" progresses, its elements shifting gradually, it develops an enchanting timelessness, and a paradoxically calming sense of nowhere. The atmosphere it invokes has a certain nervous and haunting quality, bolstered in no small part by the piercing, high-pitched tones that occasionally cut through the track for extended minutes.
"Sound on an Empty Road" is a constant guessing game of paranoia and movement, where half-seen forms lurk and breathe just beyond the limits of perception - and call into question their very existence. -- Dutton Hauhart. Connexion Bizarre
Itto is a project of Neil Rowling (Goatboy) and Ian Holloway (Psychic Space Invasion). This album is one long track of dark droning ambient, with some field recordings and instruments thrown in. I found this album a bit tough to get into, but it turns out to contain a subtle beauty that does show itself after attentive listening.
The track starts with some very deep layered drones, and this continues on during the first third of the length. More and more sounds of different frequencies drift in during this section, providing variation. About halfway, a soft guitar melody breaks through the drones, which creates a more peaceful atmosphere than the rather dark beginning. Towards the last quarter of the track, nighttime atmospheres and slightly noisy waves take over the lead, sending the track back into cold darkness.
This album requires a quiet environment, headphones and attentive listening, otherwise it won't be able to show its merits. That makes it perhaps a bit limited in its scope, because its not as interesting as background music as some other ambient. However, if you're a patient listener and a lover of deep obscure soundscapes, this is a very fine release. The real sound of an empty road can be interesting enough in the right circumstances, but this musical interpretation is surely worth your attention. - Oscar, Evening of Light
Itto is the collaboration between Ian Holloway and Neil Rowling respectively from Psychic Space Invasion and Directive 4. A long drone that shifts in pitches is just a prelude for the unexpected core of the work where field recordings of various sources intertwine with a dismal guitar plucking. Maybe the only point against this one is that when you start to get comfortable with the difference it suddenly ends leaving you longing for more. Sound On An Empty Road is surely at its best when it's at its gloomiest. A good display of creative verve, worth checking out for both the Die Stadt & co. fanatics and the lovers of the darker side of the Kranky label out there. - Andrea Vercesi, Chain DLK
Another interesting outing from this Welsh label, which releases very good music in limited editions charging only the postage fee, "Sound on an empty road" was assembled by Ian Holloway (Psychic Space Invasion) and Neil Rowling. Indeed everything seems to begin with muffled car sounds, but very soon those humming, murmuring noises are submerged by processed ambiences, infinite low frequencies (I wouldn't be surprised if they were treated motor sounds too) and harsher timbres, similar to the continuous whirr of high-tension lines. The scene changes several times in the 38+ minutes of the piece; one remains puzzled in front of this gloomy atmosphere, yet there are also more piercing emissions that sound like held feedback and - when less expected - a very slow hint of "melody", possibly coming from a keyboard. The arc of this soundscape is pretty smooth, the whole remaining unpretentious and very pleasing in its pretty sad character. Nice alternative ambient with (very few) touches of Zoviet France, Lull and the most obscure Roedelius, just to give you some vague reference point. Definitely praiseworthy stuff. And, should you want to check the good level of ECR's productions, get a copy of their very nice compilation "The eternal present", where seven different artists unveil their graces guaranteeing many nice moments of bliss and fun.
Very honestly the man from the Elvis Coffee House Recordings admits that writing press releases drive him insane, so he didn't do one for Itto. Fair enough, but it limits the length of the review also a bit. I think Itto are Ian Holloway and Neil Rowling, as the are credited with 'sound' on the cover, and they play just one long, thirty-eight minute piece of drone music on 'Sound On An Empty Road'. It's not the sustaining of a couple of notes, but throughout this piece things move about considerably, from the low end rumble by which it starts, to a higher pitched section somewhere in the middle and more mid range tones towards the end. There are some suggestions of field recordings, most notably cars on a road (even when the title suggests something else) and throughout this is more abstract and experimental drone music than 'just' drone music. At times the frequencies used are a bit too nasty and mean to get classified as pure drone music, but this more adventurous road is certainly one of the things that make this one of the better ones in it's genre. - FdW, Vital
Recently released on ecr Records, “Sound On An Empty Road” is an earthy, ghost filled drone that slowly evolves over 38 minutes creating a fragile archaic ritual that fills the room and pulls the listener in. Working under the name Itto, Ian Holloway and Neil Rowling have succeeded in producing a beautifully complete work that has a rich vibrant quality allowing the music room to breathe. - Simon, Rumbles
I played the Itto disc first and within a few minutes my nose started to bleed, which is really weird because I never get nosebleeds...wasn't because of any sort of harsh noise fury though. Au contraire. "Sound on an Empty Road" is a single 38-minute piece that's largely guitar oriented, although there are the occasional rumbling effects and grey cloud style ominousity. It really never goes anywhere and that's the best thing about it - Holloway and Rowling have constructed a piece that really seems to exist outside the boundaries of time. It's prehistoric music inasmuch as it's 41st century music and it feels like the two somehow plucked it out of the atmosphere, set it to tape, and called it a day. The soft tones that either one or the other coax from their guitar are pushed straight out into the rolling tide created by the synth/effects-heavy miasma, with the two mediums locking and unlocking to generate a beautiful, gentle, pensive track that I could see myself falling asleep to forever. Even though they take a basic approach to drone music as it is, they're still pretty tough to nail down...Aidan Baker would probably be a decent approximation, with a little bit of Black Boned Angel and Charlemagne Palestine's "Strumming Music" thrown in...I enjoyed it though, minus the nosebleed. That was an inconvenience. - Outer SpaceGamelan
Itto is a fresh artist duo, consisting of Ian Holloway and Neil Rowling. Sound on an Empty Road is released on the small Welsh label Elvis Coffee Records. To begin with the sound of the empty road is truly empty. For a long time there is almost no sound, until slowly, slowly subtle drones begin to flow into the nothingness. There is the faint hum from the distance, higher, almost wailing or whining layers, like ghost images of traffic that has passed, and a small electric whirr. The soundscape could not be described as directly serene or peaceful, but it is not eerie or oppressive either. It is very neutral (which is quite rare), pretty much like an empty highway in the middle of the night. At times a powerful sound makes a quick passing, like a truck speeding on in the darkness. Towards the end there is some plucked guitar music which gains a beautiful release into higher floating, almost gliding soundwaves. Sound of an Empty Road is not in any way spectacular, but it is made with such simple, undemanding beauty that I have found it spinning in my player quite often. For friends of good soundscapes. -john björkman, kuolleen musiikin yhdistys
