Following this year’s team-up with Merzbow, beloved drone champion and onetime Nine Inch Nails member Alessandro Cortini has announced a new solo album. Titled Avanti (the Italian word for “forward”), the LP is due out on October 6 via the Point of Departure Recording Company/PIAS.

Cortini was inspired to make Avanti after he discovered a pile of Super 8 home videos made by his grandfather, with the tapes documenting the musician’s early childhood and family life.

Prior to making the record, Cortini rediscovered an archive of home videos made by his grandfather, who passed away a few years previously. Among the cache were several Super 8 films of family gatherings as well as hours of dinner-time conversations recorded on cassette for posterity. It was as if Cortini had unearthed a perfect fossil of his childhood. The films, however, were missing one crucial element — the sound. So Cortini decided he would restore the miss-ing audio in his own way, by composing a musical accompaniment to the footage.

As it turned out, Cortini had a few blanks to fill in himself. The films exposed some inconsistencies in his memories, moments that he romanticised or misremembered. But what surprised him the most was that the recordings appeared to be almost as fallible as his recollections — both showed signs of degradation.

The album is apparently “rich in anomalies and irregularities – much like our memories,” with Cortini recording the tracks live on a single synth (the EMS Synthi AKS) with no overdubs.

“Just like the films, there are errors and mistakes in the music, some of which became the theme and some which are peculiar things that happen once or twice,” Cortini said in a statement.

Watch the video for first track ‘Perdonare’, which features some of the home movie footage. “‘Perdonare’ embodies the often strenuous search for strength to forgive someone for their behaviour,” said Cortini, “when it becomes apparent that such behaviour is not conscious nor wanted, but merely a by-product of one’s upbringing.”

Also find more information about the new record below.

AVANTI Track List
A1. Iniziare
A2. Perdonare
B1. Aspettare
B2. Nonfare
C1. Vincere
C2. Perdere
D1. Finire