Peter Gagliardi - Pandora Unlocked: Chrysanthemum Yellow

Review by Karl Magi

Overall Album Impressions

Peter Gagliardi’s Pandora Unlocked: Chrysanthemum Yellow is a reflective exploration of the struggles we face in life and as a broader species. The artist combines a powerfully expressive and open journey through his own challenges with fascinating vocal samples that deepen and extend the music’s message. He cloaks the journey in unique synth sounds, superbly composed melodies that drive home the feelings he wishes to convey and an atmospheric welter of intense emotion.

The first thing that stands out to me about Pandora Unlocked: Chrysanthemum Yellow is the atmosphere created by Peter Gagliardi. He takes hold of the difficult feelings he’s been facing and transforms them into a musical painting, one that clearly illustrates the mixture of despair, loss, darkness and slow healing through which he’s traveled. The way he uses music to capture and convey these complicated emotions results in an album that is both moving and powerfully gripping.

Another element I want to comment on is the way in which Peter Gagliardi uses vocal samples. He’s taken great care in choosing the clips, finding pieces that complement Pandora Unlocked: Chrysanthemum Yellow’s message. He draws from news reports and old radio shows that explore everything from world events to science fiction stories, all of which strongly reflect the album’s central ideas.

All of the different synth sounds used by Peter Gagliardi contribute to the depth and power of Pandora Unlocked: Chrysanthemum Yellow. He has carefully chosen a unique palette of tones that move between shadow and light, between weight and delicacy. Sometimes the synths loom in horror and other times they drift with melancholy longing. Each sound combines to weave a richly expressive tapestry as the album unfolds.

Peter Gagliardi’s melodies are beautifully composed and drive home the feelings and sensations he imbues in every track. The melodies shift between lurking danger, gentle contemplation and aching emotion, carried on synths that perfectly match their qualities and give them deeper meaning. The harmonic language of the album is rich and beautiful as it unfolds, drawing me further into the artist’s sonic world.

My Favourite Tracks Analyzed

“Guilty Scenario” begins with wistfully drifting notes and a clip of Richard Nixon speaking as a steady throb of drums matches a quickly intermingling tonal pulse. As the weight of the rhythm pounds, a sample speaks of emotional crisis and the erosion of trust while floating chimes drift as Ronald Reagan speaks of doubt and painful struggle. This track skillfully captures tension, conflict and a deep sense of guilt.

Raised notes sparkle with soft light as the xylophone-like pattern spins hypnotically. The bass is heavy as sharply glistening notes carry out while the beat bursts. The lead synth is fragile as underlying tones flicker with unevenly glittering light rounded sounds skip past. A clip of Bill Clinton drifts in, mingling with Justin Trudeau and Richard Nixon, all speaking about guilt and systemic failure. Twinkling notes twirl as high sounds glitter and the tense bass rumbles before the track slides to a close.

As a heavily thumping bassline moves in, gliding tones carry a lighter melody to start “Rudiments of the System.” The forceful bass has a slightly threatening presence as the drums punch hard and fragile chimes repeat a trance-inducing pattern. Strings swell with aching tenderness as the surging low end adds shadowy strength. The lead synth shines with pearlescent radiance and carries an aching melody.

Another vocal clip captures a miner’s union leader speaking about standing up to oppression. Bubbling sounds wash through the background as the speech creates rousing emotion. Flickering strings dance beneath the minor-key melodic pattern, filling me with a sense of nervousness and approaching danger.

A tone trumpets with nobility, flowing through the music with loss and unbound feeling. The higher notes drift with ghostly emotion, piercingly sharp, as ringing chimes flash. Choppy vocal sounds move as the arpeggios spin. The union leader speaks of seeking fair wages and compensation for the danger they face. Hollowly glimmering notes wander, open percussion trembles and the main melody glides as the track ends on the fighting words of the speaker.

“Hypnotic Drift” opens with easily pulsing drums as a steady tone shivers with slightly nervous sensations. The drums reverberate and echo as a far-off sound slowly shifts, creating a sense of uncertainty. The bass is thick as the swelling notes above it move into a melody with a hint of shadow and a sense of calm. The lower notes flow outward with a rich tone while the minor key, ringing synth trembles and fills me with a haunted feeling.

A massive beat underlays as the raised notes trail ghostly sensations while a vocal sample speaks about self-hypnosis and airy sounds flow outward. As a grounding pulse fills the track with a trance-inducing sensation, a piano and a string-like synth wash with tranquil sensibilities, carrying me into that hypnotic state of which the vocal sample speaks.

Lush tones are cut by sharper notes while the oboe-like synth adds a melancholy tenderness as the foundation continues to pulsate. The piano shines with fragility and rounded tones sing before silence falls.

Delicately descending sound floats as a 1950s science fiction sample moves to commence “Final Phase.” Majestically expansive synth spreads outward with spinning arpeggios that create dramatic tension. The main melody is full of remembrance and a sense of inevitable forward motion, while the vocal samples create a feeling of increased threat and looming challenge.

Flickering, cascading notes fall above the heavily punching force below. The vocal sample is full of worry and fear as the metallically shining synth carries a nervous and painful melody. I enjoy the way the whole track surges with tension. Everything fades to a steady beat as scrambled sounds wriggle and the vocal sample speaks of reaching a crux.

Slashing notes lacerate above a heavily reverberant synth as a more uplifting, positive sound slides into the music. The main melody glimmers with hurting nobility before a thunderous bass sound descends. Arpeggios continue to spin while the vocal sample talks about challenge and failure before the music closes.

“Everything Severed” begins with an oscillating rhythm and a xylophone carrying a disconnected melody that glitters with fragility and soft light. The drums add another level of weight below the ethereal chimes that flash with vulnerable luminosity. The middle range is carried by a plaintive synth that calls out in dreamy lines while the bass contributes depth.

The drums drop as dark sounds surge and a tracery of piano notes slips past. Exhalations fill the music with breathiness, contrasting the shadows. I enjoy the mingled emotions that come together to touch me in this track. As distant percussion trembles, lightly touching notes levitate above the forceful underlying power.

Once again, the darting chimes contribute soft radiance while the low end surges with threatening power. The drums thunder now with intimidating mass while the sharp sounds slice and phantasmic notes ascend. The main melody moves above the charging heaviness with aching longing while the drums pound.

A bending sound wanders with unsettling feelings while widely rippling notes sparkle. Below the other musical elements, heaving weight threatens while the beat thuds and above it open-sounding notes bubble and pop with iridescent light. The quickly tapping rhythm drops again and static crackles uncomfortably while distant sounds hover and the track ends.

Galactic sounds tremble as a radio transmission repeats to start “Eclipse in the Abyss.” Cosmic wind sweeps past as rattling sounds shift, creating an almost insectile clicking. The muffled voice moves like transmissions through outer space while alien sounds vibrate and chirr.

Bass swells up as the audio sample creates more spacey sensations while a guitar-like synth carries a melody that glides with cosmic delicacy, like a finely intertwined web of stars. Xylophone adds a ringing quality while the guitar-like notes shiver and nebular brightness flashes from a twisting tonal pattern.

Warm notes rise with a sense of starry brightness, glimmering on the edge of planet rise. I am transported into open space and wafted along as the solar winds float. The piano is tentative and tragic as tapping sounds echo and the track breathes to an end.

“Nowhere Optimist” opens as massive bass surges while a vocal sample speaks of another planet that mirrors our own. The drums thunder in steady action as the sample describes how this identical world works. Softly surging tones are joined by piano drifting in spectral lines, detached and full of lost sensations. As the sample fills the music with its message of a mirror world, twinkling notes repeat above the thudding beat.

I find myself drifting in thoughtful motion, touched by eerie feelings as resonating notes intertwine. An elevated, fluting sound shifts as a jingling synth adds tentative illumination and the melody carries with a shadowy, melancholy edge. The vocal sample deepens the haunting sensation as the minor-key synth emphasizes the growing sense of dread beneath the surface.

The battering rhythm grows in power, then fades as the ringing tones drift and the bass seethes with gathering gloom. Disembodied chimes levitate while the hard-hitting low-end pattern continues to drive, until rising fear and anger dissolve into silence.

Tremulous, darkly rising synth moves in an uncomfortable line to commence “Hope Falling Dark.” A lugubrious piano flows with mournful emotion as distant sounds hover and an ominously elevated note pattern is joined by descending bass. Clanking percussion begins to vibrate as a void-deep feeling grumbles. Elevated strings shiver with worry and creeping discomfort as a descending tonal pattern is joined by fiercely entangling bass.

The beat and rattling metal percussion create unsettling strength while a woodwind-like instrument drifts with aching emptiness. Bells rain while throbbing, clashing drums and thick bass intermingle. I am surrounded by feelings of loss and pain that pierce me as the music evolves. The woodwind synth cries with tragic sensations while bright strings flash with intense radiance. The foundation of the track is weighty as iridescent notes tremble above it. The main melody has a spectral, misty feeling as the beat pulsates. Metallic sounds twine together as the underlying synth swells and the music ends.

“Departure” comes to life as slowly wandering notes shift above a densely swirling bass cloud. The main melody feels far off and broken, reflecting a bereft sensation full of mourning. An evenly vibrating, xylophone-like synth repeats a hypnotizing pattern as incredibly colossal bass thrums. In the distance, a fragile synth brushes through the music with airy exhalations, carrying tenderness.

The xylophone has a caressing feeling while the sharper notes around it sweep with constrained threat. The sharper melody carries a minor-key shading while the xylophone shines with something more encouraging. The interlocking layers fill me with complex, confusing emotion, but even in the sharper-edged melody, there are hints of light. The bass surges while the drifting xylophone shimmers. Underneath it all, the bass architecture rumbles before the track breathes softly into silence.

Conclusion

Pandora Unlocked: Chrysanthemum Yellow affects me deeply with its exploration of the struggles that Peter Gagliardi (and frankly many of us) have faced in life. The way he combines synths, vocal samples and well-composed melodies creates a journey through what it means to be human and live in this complicated, confusing world.