Italian musician, filmmaker, and illustrator Nicola Olla crafts a haunting ambient sound throughout his new EP, Ω. Comprising four tracks, the EP’s first half is led by ghostly piano, with an assortment of lush and subtle orchestral infusions. The final two tracks invoke a chilling atmospheric pull with clanging guitars, often interacting with the piano for a stirringly dark impact. Olla has performed in a variety of different projects over the past two decades, and his emphasis on experimental soundscapes resonates throughout this EP– which he crafted as a soundtrack for the World Press Photo exhibition in Sinnai, Italy.
“Saly” opens the EP with a delicate, moving piano lead — complemented gradually by spine-tingling touches of strings. “Gabès” follows with a similar arsenal, escalating with higher-pitched piano intrigue as the mid-point approaches. These understated beauties envelop, as does the acoustic/piano interplay within “Paul,” and then the clanging guitar tones within “Jiuer,” fondly resembling the grippingly dark soundtracks from the Diablo games. Ω is a strongly memorable and atmospheric success of an EP from Nicola Olla.
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“Saly” is also featured in the genre-based, best-of Spotify compilation Obscure Ambient. Stream the playlist below:
We discovered this release via MusoSoup, as part of the artist’s promotional campaign.
