Pillow is the nom de plume of musician Luca Di Mira, whose From Dusk to Dawn is a recording with a brilliantly perfect title. If the name Pillow, and the title evoke images of the nighttime world for you, that is most assuredly the intended effect. The nine tracks of From Dusk to Dawn bring to mind the netherworld of dreamtime in a variety of ways. There is a scenic quality to each of these haunting pieces, each in a very different way.
Do Pillow play “bedtime music” though? Not at all. And to be clear, what I mean to say is that while the tempos are low-key, this is no New Age drivel by any means. In fact, while the piano of Luca Di Mira is bathed in some gorgeous atmospheres, it all adds up to a mysteriously compelling 41-minute set of music.
The opening two-minute track “A Dream (part 1)” serves as a ideal introduction. This effect of From Dusk to Dawn is indeed dreamlike, but one of those ones where you catch yourself the next morning wondering just what the hell was going on in your head to produce such a variety of visions. “Northern Latitudes” follows, with Di Mira’s piano providing the key, amidst an unobtrusive, yet fully enveloping wash of sound.
Luca shows a bit more of his hand with the fully developed “A Dream (part 2).” The track fulfills the promise of the first part, and more. It is definitely a separate entity from the first part, and features the first appearance of drums on the album. They are subdued, but still sort of striking in context. The 6:31 song is something of a dream in itself, taking us in a multitude of musical directions along the way. There is a moment of sparkling incandescence towards the close of the tune, which adds yet another element to this most ambiguous recording.
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