Trip-hop outfit Ophiuco returns with ‘Hybrid’ LP

Trip hop indietronic outfit Ophiuco have released their first single “Pneumatic Psycho Bodhidharma” in advance of releasing their forthcoming “Hybrid” LP. This long-awaited release comes eight years after their debut LP, “Hypno Queue” (Minuta Records, 2007). The full 11-track LP was released internationally on Dec. 11 by Seahorse Recordings and distributed by Audioglobe.

While typically labeled as trip-hop, these new compositions are more hybrids with electronica and other related genres. Core members are Marino “Malima” Peiretti (guitar), Paolo “Ezua” Zangara (bass), and Ilaria “Ali” Nicolini (vocals). The new songs also feature vocals from Luca Morselli, Irene Parabita, and Nathalie Rosemarie Carlesso (Tin Toys, Little Creatures), providing a variety of colors across the tracks.

Peiretti and Zangara are no strangers to attention at the European level, as previous members of drum and bass band IK14. In that project, they played at some of the most popular Italian and European festivals alongside such bands as Chumbawamba, Apollo 440, Kruder & Dorfmeister, and Nine Inch Nails.

Together they create a fluctuating musical cocktail of Bristol-style trip-hop with plenty of hidden elements from other genres, such as electro, jazz, dub, and rock. What might otherwise seem to be contrasting flows actually mesh together nicely in the capable hands of Asclepius’ followers (the god of medicine, bearing the snake in his hands and representing the 13th constellation, the Ophiucus). As a result, the band is charting new territory relative to their Italian peers.

A statement issued by the band reads: “We are individuals determined by history. We are those who wish to express themselves outside of any genres or schemes, and without boundaries, even though you may become wedged into some genre in the end.”

Their music is driven by new emotions, intensity, and experimentation with respect to new sound scenarios. “Hybrid / Sound as wings / Sound as tongues / Sound as flames / Sound as motivation” echo the lyrics from their first single, “Pneumatic Psycho Bodhidharma.” Certain songs drift away similarly to the sounds forged by Massive Attack or Bark Psychosis.

Since releasing “Hypno Queue,” the band members have enjoyed many solo performances and new experiences, and they have finally come together again to run through what they describe as “open valleys threatened by dark omens.” “There is no finish line, no limitations and no expectations,” they explain.

Ophiuco’s “Hybrid” was recorded in Varese, Lombardy (between Milan and the Swiss border) by band members Peiretti and Zangara and mastered in Viterbo (near Rome) by Paolo Messere of renowned Naples band Blessed Child Opera. The video for was created by Alberto Stevanato and Solenn le Marchand.

TRACKLIST

1. Desert
2. Trip
3. Pneumatic Psycho Bodhidharma
4. Ground
5. While
6. Stress is a Killer
7. Scrowls of Intentiones
8. Figurato
9. Out of the Window
10. Transitional Eyes
11. Game Machine

Streaming:  https://ophiuco1.bandcamp.com/album/hybrid

MP3 download with EPK: https://dl.orangedox.com/3ezUdNJ2JhtThaY8H9

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