MevsMyself - Mictlan

There’s something that has crept upon the waters of vocalizations with a man named Giorgio Pinardi and his voice solo project, MevsMyself. Since 2015 with the debut release of Yggdrasil, he had begun music when was very young by studying opera singing and sung in the child choir of the La Scala Theater in Milan, Italy. After playing with bands, he decided to bring his voice from different perspectives – extended vocal techniques, body percussion, improvisation, and experimentation.

That and his second album, Mitclan which was released last year, showcases Pinardi’s arrangements by travelling through the various improvisations of Mongolian, African Indian, and Bulgarian music. Now, mind you I was very with this type of sound from hearing Herbie Hancock's Watermelon Man from his twelfth studio masterpiece, Headhunters. And two others; Crystal Beth, and the late great Paul Pena.

Who not only wrote the hit song Jet Airliner, but delved into the world of Tuvan throat singing which was covered in the 1999 documentary, Genghis Blues. For Pinardi, he channels those three masters and takes his own spin of vocal percussions with the twists and turns on Mitclan. Giorgio does well on just his voice, but taking us to these various landscapes that structure on where he’s going to land.

Sometimes the genres crossover between Jazz, World, Electronic, Scat, and a touch of Ladysmith Black Mambazo with some tribes of middle-eastern music thrown into the middle. And mind you, it is quite unexpected, but this album is quite a journey from start to finish that Pinardi has taken us into these unbelievable results that you might want to take note on.

While this album took me a long, long time to get into, Giorgio Pinardi’s arranging and composition was really worth exploring into the music of MevsMyself. But it was really something that made me wanted to go back and revisit it again. I don’t recall how many times I listened to, but I went back again and again to give this album my full stamp of approval for 2020. And I hope to hear more from Pinardi in the years to come.