Giacomo Zanus: Wandering Away is Safer Than Getting Lost on Your Own

Unsolicited submissions are the ones that often turn out to be the most rewarding. Absolved of the PR spiel about inspirations of loss or dystopian times. Laments often spoken of that are seldom felt in the music itself. That’s why it’s important to make your own informed decisions on art. Even if it’s wide off the mark, at least there’s a reality to it. And in a world where instant gratification has reduced meaning to almost nothing, in many ways, imperfection is the new perfection.

Not only this, but really, at the end of the day, all that matters are whether tunes stack up. Which is where the likes of Giacomo Zanus come in. On his latest full-length release, wandering away is safer than getting lost on your own, the Bologna-based guitarist merges the worlds of jazz, electro-acoustic and post-rock to sparkling effect. From the striking artwork right down to every granule of sound, the Italian adds his own personality to experimentalism at large.

While there is residue from Zanus’ meandering 2021 release, KORA, once again in quartet form, the guitarist reaches new heights. Joined by Giorgio Pacorig (Fender Rhodes, piano), Mattia Magatelli (double and electric bass), and Marco D’Orlando (drums, percussion), on wandering away is safer than getting lost on your own, Zanus orchestrates subtle yet expansive movements that guide you to peaceful places.

Starting with dear Palomar. Led by D’Orlando’s loose, jazz-inflected percussion, Zanus’ wandering guitar moves through stages like scenes from a film. And later the band continues to explore these corners. Canto pagano, something akin to a house band at a Cannes Film Festival afterparty.

On I picked up a flower to say hello, Zanus moves away from the glitz and glamour of the red carpet in favour of more secluded locales. The skittish countrified noodling, possessing tangled, Nels Cline echoes from A Ghost is Born-era Wilco. Which is interesting, considering Chicago is a place these recordings feel indebted to. On the utterly dynamic half awake, the likes of Bill MacKay and even Tortoise shine through. Moments where every note glitters and lights up the room.

Elsewhere, and but hell…it became a farewell finds Zanus travelling deeper into seclusion. Namely the rustic hills of his native Italy where these back porch mediations slow down time. Penultimate piece, half asleep in the water, possesses the same DNA but with less restraint, unfurling into a rainbow collation of jazz and the best kind of post-rock.

On the final piece, vesper / ymnus, Zanus leans into the former, which has been his natural habitat. Winding road improv-jazz, and as D’Orlando’s tumbling percussion and Pacorig’s frenetic keys lay the foundation, it’s a curtain call that almost brings down the rails. In many ways, it’s the album’s outlier, but again, the expanse of these recordings keeps the listener guessing. Zanus, the leader of a quartet whose virtuoso is assured, deeply connected and so illuminating that it’s almost blinding. But of course, in the best possible way.

Wandering away is safer than getting lost on your own is out now via Okum. Purchase from Bandcamp.