Fireflies by Matthew De Gennaro

A colorful world emerges from Fireflies, the latest & most distinct statement yet conjured by Matthew De Gennaro. Everyday moments, from the mysterious to the joyful to the still and most points in between, are traversed in this set of shifting stories (mostly wordless). Echoes of Reiko and Tori Kudo, Bruce Langhorne’s The Hired Hand soundtrack and Souled American tether the otherworldly compositions to our plane, if only slightly. De Gennaro’s own personal micro-orchestra of arcane sounds–augmented on Firefles by past collaborators Jameson Sweiger and Scott Tuma and draped in artwork by Scott MacLeod–have rarely sounded as spry or stark. And as with all of his records, Fireflies rewards attentiveness with overwhelming beauty.

Matthew De Gennaro has quietly, steadily amassed a brilliant discography over the past two decades. Since his series of collaborative works with Alastair Galbraith, he’s focused on solo releases that touch upon folk concepts of the last hundred years, and has occasionally worked in collaboration with the likes of Stefan Neville and Scott Tuma.