ILUITEQ

It seems that isolation continues to occupy our thoughts and feelings. Sometimes I walk around London thinking, “is the pandemic over?” and “did it really happen?” I think we know the answers to those thoughts. We’re back to “normal”, but we’re not. Somehow this isolation [and perhaps even loneliness?] has permeated deep inside, become a part of us, sunk to the core. I mean, do you even feel like being social these days, or do you miss those quiet nights with empty streets and lonely walks? Watching the video created by the Italian ambient duo of Sergio Calzoni and Andrea Bellucci, recording under the moniker ILUITEQ for n5MD, reminds me of those days. Featuring original footage from various sources, the duo stitch a mental timestamp of those times – an image of the London Eye particularly resonates [I’ve walked there countless times during the lockdown]. “Loosely inspired by the book The Road by Cormac McCarthy, ILUITEQ’s fourth album, Reflections From The Road, expands the novel’s theme, where human beings are overwhelmed by an ordeal that completely changes the course of their lives. Events that suddenly interrupt the ‘ordinary movements’ of life in a new, unpredictable, and often dangerous way. The continual sense of motion, the velveteen atmospheres being battered by glitchy interruptions, reflects the novel’s themes of irresistible forces upturning human lives.” The visuals and sounds complement each other, transporting back into the past or maybe even to the future. What thoughts does this evoke in you?