We Speak Music
Elena Ortega’s “Light after Darkness” Shines a Beacon of Hope
Elena Ortega’s sophomore album, “Light after Darkness”, is a deeply personal and emotional journey that takes listeners on a sonic exploration of the human experience. The album’s repertoire is a masterful blend of contemporary and classical guitar music, featuring works by Juan Erena, Sergio Assad, Carlo Domeniconi, Albéniz, and Barrios-Mangoré. Ortega’s expressive playing and thoughtful programming create a sense of intimacy and vulnerability, inviting listeners to reflect on their own experiences and emotions.
The album’s narrative arc is both deeply personal and universally relatable, tracing a path from darkness and solitude to calm and joy. Ortega’s playing is characterized by a sense of nuance and sensitivity, effortlessly conveying the emotional depth of each piece. From the introspective moments of contemplation to the bursts of joy and celebration, “Light after Darkness” is a musical journey that will resonate with listeners long after the final notes have faded.
One of the album’s greatest strengths is its ability to balance light and darkness, creating a sense of balance and harmony that is both soothing and uplifting. Ortega’s music is a reminder that even in the darkest of times, there is always hope and light to be found. This message of resilience and determination is sure to resonate with listeners from all walks of life.
Throughout the album, Ortega’s technical facility is matched only by her emotional intelligence, creating a sense of connection and communion with the listener. From the intricate fingerwork of the contemporary pieces to the sweeping romanticism of the classical works, every note is infused with a sense of passion and purpose.
This album is truly a triumph, a deeply moving and deeply personal album that is sure to leave listeners changed. Elena Ortega’s music is a beacon of hope in a world that often seems dark and uncertain, reminding us that even in the darkest of times, there is always light to be found.
Michele Ducci has unveiled the second single, ‘Woman Like You’, from his forthcoming album and animated film ‘Snail in the Clouds’.
‘Woman Like You’ pairs bright distorted electric guitar with an electronic drumbeat, adding in Ducci’s soulful vocals and a catchy uplifting chorus with Letizia Mandoleisi’s sweet vocal harmonies. A vintage organ pedalboard operated by Ducci simultaneously generates chords, bass and rhythm, like a one-man band. Shane Kennedy (Girl in the Year Above) joins in on guitar. Simon Milner (Is Tropical, Ysing) recorded and produced the track at his 4am Studios in London.
The album and film tell the story of a planet called ‘Snail’, inhabited by hybrids – primarily a mixture between scorpions, snails and humans – who lead a life according to the style of Pythagoras, devoted to music. There is also a cloud man named Agostos, a writer of musical operettas, who together with a talking smoke machine called Doctor Subtilis, begins to kill all hybrids, targeting in particular the hybrid musician Diodoros and his band, in an effort to steal the ark of melodies, an ancient ship that allows the whole planet to survive with music and joy.
The video for the single, created and animated by Ducci and Mandoleisi, delves further into the realm of planet ‘Snail’:
Says Ducci, “The ark of melodies, after various attempts, finally starts to work and fly in the planet Snail, while the shady Doc. Sub. and Agostos, with their platoon of soldiers made of foggy smoke, spy the miracle, planning to steal the ark for their evil and tyrannical purposes.”
About the track, Michele says, “I wrote this song for my love Letizia. Love seen from the mind is the sound we make. Sound is the love of matter.
We used a Technics synthesizer organ from a flea market. I tried to find a mood that was right for the song and I started using the bass of the pedal board together with the synth and the drums, and it was magical to hear the song reveal itself all coming from a single instrument. Leti was singing with me and we recorded everything live in one shot. Then we made Shane do the guitar flight, as if he came out of the window. The idea was to maintain disproportions, guitar thrust and synth drum thinness a la Haroumi Hosono, so as to create an estrangement, but naturally: it’s about how I listen, with close up something that captures me in its nuance as element of a larger orchestra somewhere. I’m glad we decided in the studio with Simon to use the layers of arrangement as the close-ups in the cinema; they look like strange enlargements that perch on parts of a mutated orchestra. I’m happy to come back with this love song at a time when everything seems to opt, even my labor in managing the flows of selfishness that have poured out on me while doing this album, for the sound of war. I’m here happy to be able to say that the sound of love always wins as did for me. Snail in the clouds is one of the most important works in my life and I am glad to start from pure love for this album that is my son.”
The album and full-length film will be released on the 5th of June on Monotreme Records.
Michele and Letizia’s previous musical short film, ‘The Great Book of Nature’, is an official selection for the 2026 Venice Shorts Film Festival.
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