In the white air (Nosound) (LP 3368 - 3372)

Nosound  So129 (CD, KScope Records, 2005) *** 

Nosound  A Sense Of Loss (CD, KScope Records, 2009) **** 

Nosound  Afterthoughts (CD, KScope Records, 2013) *** 

Nosound  Scintilla (CD, KScope Records, 2016) *** 

Nosound  Allow Yourself (CD, KScope Records, 2018) *** 

Genre: Ambient, prog rock, post rock  

Places I remember: HMV, Fopp, JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: In Celebration Of Life (Scintilla)

Gear costume: This Night (Allow Yourself) 

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5

Active compensatory factors: Nosound (sometimes styled as nosound or even NOSOUND) is an Italian prog/alt/post rock band from Italy, created by Giancarlo Erra in 2002. He contributes lead vocals, lead guitar and keyboards.

The debut album So129 is a good start but it's mostly a solo project by Erra who writes everything, plays everything and is the engineer/producer. A lot of the music is more ambient in approach but there are hints of gently floating soundscapes that would come to define the nosound sound.

I missed the follow up (Lightdark) so their third album is next - A Sense of Loss. This is much more of a band album although Erra still writes and produces everything. It's very much his vision and approach, with additional musicians.

Alex Henderson of AllMusic sums up that approach well when he says that bandleader Giancarlo Erra "finds a lot of beauty in his melancholia, drawing on influences that include Pink Floyd, Brian Eno... Tangerine Dream, Porcupine Tree and Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark (OMD)." 

Afterthoughts is their fourth album, and it's largely a continuation of their previous album. Maybe the title gives it away, even though it was four years later.

Scintilla (their fifth album) does introduce some new textures and also includes a harder tone. That may be because of Chris Maitland's arrival on drums (although he was also on Afterthoughts).

The final album in my list, Allow Yourself, is their latest. They are still a touring band by the look, but no further studio albums have been released since 2018.

This one continues the Nosound sound with some experimentation of beats and approach (first song Ego Drip is almost trance).

It's hard to single out one of their albums as the best. I like this one for its ability to mix it up a bit, but I also like A Sense Of Loss for its uniformity of mood.

I do have a compilation album, Introducing Nosound from 2015 which includes highlights from their first four albums. It's a double so it's pretty expansive and is a good place to start for the newcomer.

Where do they all belong? Most of these albums (CDs) come with DVDs of other songs, different mixes etc - so you do get value for money. Plus, the packaging is superb - excellent photographic booklets, lyrics and great covers.