Anthony Distefano - 4 song demo (2002)
From Aural Innovations #19 (April 2002)
Anthony Distefano is a composer/performer of well-crafted pieces; he is from Brooklyn, NY and delves into the art of soundtrack music. He boasts that his pieces have been aired and awarded, and one of his songs became the theme to a TV program. His CD gives an almost classical sounding taste of his work; it is all keyboards, and it has that strange Tomita feel to it.
'Vambido' is very Tomita sounding, and it flows for just under 3 minutes with a nice working run that play with emotion. It has a very computer game feel to it, sort of Zelda adventure sounding. You could imagine that is what it was, and you can almost see the characters going about their business. 'A Cure (1Theme)' follows on in the same mould, but this being more reliant on chord patterns to move the piece along. It gives the listener a chance to relax and hear the music, whereas the first track was more hectic. This one weaves dreamlike, it stretches out to envelope you in soft keyboard pads that make a subtler course through the composition.
'A Cure (2 Theme)' is the next instalment and this runs through a phase not dissimilar to the first part. The chord patterns take the same guise and motion through emotion once more. Both are Tangerine Dream like but these pieces are more major and uplifting. The feel is almost Vangelis as well. It is the longest track at 3.41 minutes. 'Aral' has a similar feel and I guess that this is all meant to run together in sort of concept form perhaps? The keyboards are more played than created; the music is composed rather than explored. The overall sound is in the Tomita vein with its nice perfect notes and its composite form. Tomita fans will get off on this I'm sure.
All tracks are great sounding and well produced, I can see his potential in the theme composition but thought that he could have made this CD longer. It is only 10 odd minutes long, but remember that it is only a demo of his work, and be sure that it does justice to his talent. I just would have liked to hear longer pieces that flowed through more phases. He composes soundtrack stuff ideally suited in my eyes for computer games. The pads and the keyboards are layered to envisage the mystical and it gives a very 'as I've said before' Zelda vibe. If he could produce an hour long CD I think that it would make bigger waves.
For more information you can email Anthony Distefano at: adistefano@msn.com.
Contact via snail mail c/o Anthony Distefano; 1720 62nd Street; Brooklyn, NY 11204.
Reviewed by Albert Pollard