4 out of 5

Label: You Are Not Stealing Records

Producer: João Mascarenhas

From Stealing Orchestra member João Mascarenhas comes this half-hour long moody instrumental piece under the ‘Salvatore’ moniker.  Everything about this speaks of gloom – the cover art, the gospel echoey production style, and then, of course, the music itself, which floats through strings and chanting but never lapses into the predictable overwrought parody that a lot of this style of music tends to lean toward.  It’s a very unique blend, as you’d normally find find this mood expressed through a more electronic vibe, and Stealing Orchestra certainly knows their way around bleeps and bloops, but Mascarenhas makes this very, very organic sounding and warms you to the evil sound instead of just slathering it on.  This ups the creep factor because you want to listen to this late at night, alone – it’s almost soothing if not for whatever lurks in the shadows.

Once you’re in about five minutes through, there are no surprises to come later on in the track, but this is an excellent use of production and instrumentation to create a very specific vibe.