Styles: Electronic, ambient, space music

The union of two sometimes very contrasting minds made this release possible. Not just the minds of the two Italian electronic artists, jarguna and Serena, but the minds of two different jungles: nature and civilization — the organic growth of flowers and trees and the cities made of iron and concrete.

jarguna, a botanical researcher (ethnobotanist), is always traveling in search of plants and the culture that revolves around them. The other, Serena, is an urban explorer resting his gaze on corners where "distracted" people do not stop and are unable to observe fascinating details, stories permeated in the structures.

A musician for over 30 years, Serena says the album reflects “a journey into a not-too-distant dystopian future where an uncontaminated nature slowly envelops archaeological fragments of disappeared civilizations, recovering its fundamental primary role as a living laboratory. The sounds and rhythmic interweaving of synthesizers and sequences accompany us throughout the journey often letting real forest sounds emerge like rays of sunshine through the mists of an undergrowth in a humid dawn. We created this work through a close collaboration as we live in the same valley here in Italy— or better to say, jungle."

“AMONGST JUNGLES, my 46th release,” jarguna states, "is less exclusively ambient. It is structured by rhythms and refrains, a sound that is partly retro, partly avant-garde (yes, avant-garde!) ambient, progressive, since it never ends how it starts. Two worlds that try to coexist, sometimes one dominates the other. I am referring to the two jungles: nature and civilization. The man who constantly tries to control both one and the other, mere illusion! The synthetic sounds blend with some forest landscapes, which I myself have recorded. Imagine seeing a skyscraper totally surrounded by vegetation. A few years would be enough because the earth carried by the wind enters and with it, a seed. A little water and the Earth takes back its space."

"The search for sound and rhythm was complex and articulated. The expressions of the timbres of some sounds led us into dense and twisted jungles, lights, shadows build mechanical, artificial dimensions, sometimes simple and spontaneous."

Good explorations!

jarguna Bio:

jarguna is sonic-alchemist Marco Billi. He creates organic-ambient-electronic music in mandala-like hymns of richly enveloping ritual music. Since his first recordings in 1998, jarguna’s work has been an exploration of sounds, feelings, contrasts, passion, acoustics and electronics. In the early 2000s jarguna was a student of Serena in a course of sound engineering and DAW (digital audio workstation).

Nicola Serena Bio:

Born in Florence, Italy, in 1960, Nicola first studied piano and in 1977 began exploring new sounds in electronic music. He dedicates himself to the composition of soundtracks for television documentaries (Overland, Rai TV) and audio books. As an arranger and composer, Nicola designs multimedia installations where sound and image coexist in a single project. He is known by the pseudonym Nick Straybizer and has also released 6 albums under his own name. Nicola creates evocative compositions, exploring countless genres over the years from 90’s new age to techno, chillout, EDM and techno electronic.

“I met Marco many years ago,” recalls Nicola. “Thanks to our passion for electronic music and synthesizers, we decided to create this project that combines our musical and cultural experiences. It is an album where there are multiple sound fragments, a synthesis of small experimental studies. This combination has allowed for the creation of a wonderful work that encompasses our experiences in electronic and ambient music.”