Melanie De Biasio – ‘Blackened Cities’

This 24-minute single track EP was released in 2016. Although it is classified as Jazz, to accept such a clear-cut classification is to ignore the track’s complexity. 

Melanie De Basio has released two Alternative genre albums  ‘No Deal, Remixed’  in 2014, and ‘Lilies’ in 2017. To listen to these albums is to truly appreciate Melanie’s exceptional voice.  In 2017 she also released ‘A Stomach is Burning’, a standout late-night Jazz album. 

Melanie De Basasio.

Blackened Cities is a hypnotic track. Listening to it, I have never managed to remain focused. This is not because it’s tedious, but because of its repetitive rhythms and melodies and its air of dreamy moodiness. Melanie’s voice only serves to add to the song’s seductiveness.  

The track opens as electronic ambient music, morphs into haunting melody and song, and finally builds into a notably complex jazz arrangement. Fully developed the track revisits and further develops the melody lines that provide the track’s cohesion. It is perhaps for this reason that I repeatedly struggle to determine whether I am listening to the song for the first or umpteenth time. ‘Blackened Cities’ will remain on my frequently played list for some years to come.