Paris-based French–Italian duo Echoberyl is a darkwave/coldwave project born in 2018 out of the collaboration between Cecilia Dassonneville (vocals), Adriano S. Iacoangeli (guitar, programming, music), with the precious aid of lyricist “Ari” Arianna Todero (one half of other Locoangeli project Polyverso).
The combination of Adriano‘s multi-instrumental, songwriting and production talents with the melancholic innocence of Cecilia‘s voice composes a hypnotic juxtaposition born of strength and fragility.
The band have just released their debut album “Apparition“ out now via Swiss Dark Nights, accompanied by an extraordinary DIY short film for the track “Rectangle that interprets elements of immorality, disobedience , and shame as a desperate cry of pain, suffering, and retribution set against the backdrop of The Temple of Flora, at Villa Ada, Rome.
Intense outpourings of agonized breath engulf sombre lonely guitar echoes in sorrowful mourning, as clear, focused, beautifully sad female vocals wept in desperate loss, longing, and alienation cry into the empty sacrificial womb desecrated in death and doubt, left in the wake of unbalanced alternating electronic pulses shift to ceremonial synth solos, peppered in light repetitious backbeats laced with sad stringed melodies, reflecting melancholic atmospheres of dire darkness and destitution.
Engulfed in a lost breath, a woman finds herself empty of oxygen in an involuntary struggle to hold on to life. But the warm and happy life within her was violently ripped from her abdomen without warning and now she is slowly sinking into the dark bottomless abyss. “Empty hands washed by her crying,” grasp at the final loose straws of hope and pride, before succumbing to the unavoidable hollow cloud of emptiness where lieth her soul. A testament to the life-long silent suffering inflicted instantaneously upon women as they lose a child.
Choosing black and white for short movie shot by herself, Cecilia Dassonneville creates a dramatic mystery contaminated in stark contrasts of colour, shade, and vibrancy enlisting the sun to illuminate subtle stains of shame, as shadows cast eternal doubt into a broken heart. Superimposed colourless imagery of a woman’s swollen midsection beneath a crestfallen face blurs into dead, hate-filled eyes seeking vengeance for the emptiness left within.
A quaint, historic, and beautifully enigmatic backdrop, dramatic acting, and a breathtaking soundtrack create an icy discomfort sending shivers up the spine.
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