Gianpace is the latest project by Italian producer and DJ, Go Dugong. Having released music designed for the nightclub in collaboration with people like DJ Khalab and on labels like Hyperjazz, 42 Records and Fresh Yo, this is a slight departure and more of an inward, explorative album.

The album contains ten individual pieces of music, all with a similar vibe and feel but each slightly different in style and sometimes sonic texture. For some listeners Gianpace will contain too many hints of the new age music so readily available online but a deeper listen will be rewarded with some subtle complexities and enjoyable moments. The record is essentially the result of experimentation with psychedelics and the moods, healing processes and visions that emerge during such experimentation. Approached from this angle Gianpace offers an enjoyable listening experience and suggests potential for further, deeper experiments with psychedelic sound could be worth looking out for in the future.

A highlight of the album is Golden Teacher, which opens with haunting strings (perhaps a steel pedal effect) and the hint of a beat in what is often a beatless, ambient album. It’s an absorbing piece of psychedelic electronica that carries you along in a haze. There is a meditative, healing element to the piece which I suspect is exactly what Gianpace is hoping to accomplish on this track.

Ascensore Per La Quarta Dimensione (which translated roughly means elevation to the fourth dimension) is another of the stand out tracks on the album, with tonal modular effects mixing with what at first listen sounds like a haunting robotic choir. It works in terms of the title, as the music produces a feeling of levitating, floating or rising above this world into another dimension or sphere.

The longest track on the album Cura has a very simple, repetitive piano/key line running through it which holds together a swirling variety of dark electronica moods that come and go as the piece mutates and evolves. Eventually the piano keys are replaced by mildly threatening beeps, bleeps and sci fi style robotic noise. This is one of the darker pieces on the album, tilting towards bad trip territory but never quite falling over the edge. It’s music to think to, to reflect to and potentially to banish demons to. The looping piano line reappears to carry the song to its conclusion; as it comes to an end there is almost a cleansing sensation, as if the music has served some sort of esoteric, spiritual purpose. It certainly stands out as one of the most interesting pieces on the record.

There’s plenty going on here to keep the listener interested. Gianpace is an album that oscillates between ambient, psychedelic and meditative music. There’s definitely an experimental feel to the record; the feel of an artist exploring new musical territory and allowing themselves to go on a journey with it. If Go Dugong continues with his Gianpace project it will be worth keeping an eye on where that journey ends up and what kind of music is created along the way.

Gianpace is out now on La Tempesta Dischi