If you didn’t know that Giovanni Carnuccio III was a drummer, then you sure as hell will know by the end of “Requiem”, the 65-second opening track to his new album, A Matter of Time. Hi-hats chatter rapidly, elastic-sounding toms warble quickly as drums sticks skip over them, cymbal crashes splash about the mix, and snare hits roll out so fast it’s like the sound of a river flooding on by. “Requiem” is a mass flurry of drums, polyrhythms aplenty, and an almost dizzyingly virtuosic display of percussive talent.
And, if you didn’t know of Carnuccio’s musical talents (as a drummer, but also as a producer and arranger), then don’t worry, as there’s a music scene out there that does. The Austin, Texas-based artist has worked with Zach Aaron, Jason Eady, Courtney Patton, Turnpike Troubadours, and numerous others in the folk and Americana scene, earning him respect as a hard-working musician giving his best to whatever project he aims himself at. On A Matter of Time, Carnuccio goes all out for psychedelic, genre-hopping fun, fuelled by an inspired streak brought on by the pandemic. It’s zany, light-hearted, and all too brief at the best of times. It also features a buttload of drums.
If the excitement of “Requiem” wasn’t quite enough to whet one’s appetite for drums, then following track “Hot Time Traveller” comes in strong with drum rolling bursts of snare before a fizzy synth groove and spacey guitar noodling juxtaposes the hurried tempo of the percussion. Carnuccio is at his best on the album when he sounds like he’s traversing rich landscapes, full of sights and sounds, all propelled by the beat. “Hot Time Traveller” does this, stopping off at a Soviet-era mid section of male choirs and a brooding horror soundtrack gloominess before letting the original groove return. These tracks are journeys, and the best way to enjoy them is to strap in and enjoy the sights outside the window.
Over a snapping, whipcrack-like synth drum snare and lowly bellowing cello, “Ages of Pages” swells like an early-2000s video game soundtrack, before Carnuccio sprinkles in more eastern-tinted melodies at the track’s back end. “Everybody Just Calm Down” feels like Sufjan Stevens’ A Sun Came thrown into a blender and all manner of additional noises and instrumental flourishes added in for good measure, including banjo breaks, bursts of applause, a funk workout on bass and electric guitar, and even random farm animal noises. It’s silly, sure, but still hard not to enjoy the freedom of it all; Carnuccio composes like a young wannabe chef finding out herbs and spices are a thing. If it sounds like a good idea, then why not throw it in?
Where A Matter of Time might have been bettered is ironically and rather fittingly a matter of time: any of these tracks could have been twice as long and likely not fared any worse for it (and at 26 minutes long, the album has plenty of time to spare). Either it would have allowed for a mood and vibe to be explored more thoroughly, or just let the listener sit in enjoyable moments that little longer. Final track “Why Is This Happening” is the only track that spreads itself out like others could have, splaying out a rainy backdrop with equally dreary guitar flourishes, harp notes, and MIDI strings. Here, though, the gloominess is bled out too much (the sound of actual rainfall rather drowns out any semblance of subtlety), and if Carnuccio had more faith in his composition then he would have just let the music wring out the tears itself.
A Matter of Time offers its pleasures in fleeting moments, then. “Baby Godzilla Steps” intrigues with its burbling, glassy synths that could be mistaken for that of Pantha du Prince or Four Tet. The swirling percussion and EDM bass makes it feel like Carnuccio is trying to make techno music with live drums (something The Field did better with John Stanier on Yesterday & Today). “PCHDMT” is the track most likely to grab listener’s attention on first glance, with its flashy flamenco guitar flair and handclap-like snare. It has brightness all over it like something from Lemon Jelly or the Books, but with its simple stereo channel hopping of riffs, it also feels like the shallowest offering here.
This is a drummer’s album though, and the percussion is always the feature worth coming back to and paying attention to throughout. Sometimes all the bells and whistles feel like a distraction from Carnuccio’s rollicking playing. A listen to the album on headphones ekes out details that are lost from a cursory listen, be it the multiple tracks scuttling way in the background of “Hot Time Traveller”, or the easy to miss bass drum workout on “Everybody Just Calm Down”. Things like this help you appreciate that Carnuccio is indeed a drummer (and one hell of one for sure), but also a pretty talented producer and arranger too. It’s his own drum to bang though – but we can remain confident that a man of his percussive talent will bang it well.
