Music Review // Chris Ianuzzi "Infinite Prize & Setagaya"

https://chrisianuzzi.bandcamp.com/track/infinite-prize //

https://chrisianuzzi.bandcamp.com/track/setagaya //

These two singles from Chris Ianuzzi could be the modern version of a cassingle (or a 7" record or CD single, depending upon your age)  I remember such a time as when I was going to record stores, seeking out CD singles by Pearl Jam because they had a radio song on them first but then the second song was one which was only available on that particular CD release.  I feel like something to that effect could return one day but it would have to be in a way which someone like Chris Ianuzzi would release "Infinite Prize" digitally and as the A side of a cassingle but then make it so you have to buy the physical music to hear "Setagaya" on the B side.  Still, I think it could be done.

Through minimal electronics, some dark strings and vocals which have as much singing in them as they do speaking, Chris Ianuzzi brings out a somewhat trippy, somewhat threatening chorus when singing "I don't need your mercy / You're my infinite prize".   This song comes from a dark place and I feel like it is as close to being a traditional electronic song as it is to being a traditional rock song.  Because of that and the overall vibe I get from this song, I feel like if I had first heard it in the 1990's it would have been on the soundtrack to "The Crow", somewhere between Violent Femmes and My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult.

On the other side of this digital cassingle is the song "Setagaya" which is largely instrumental but not too much unlike "Infinite Prize" in the qualities which is possesses.   Electronics come beeping in with these oooh's and ahhh's but not actual words.  This goes to a darker place, much like the song before it, and it can feel like the soundtrack to a television series such as "Twin Peaks".   In contrast to "Infinite Prize" it is interesting how much of a different mood this one can set simply by not having words to guide it but rather being lead by electronics which drive you to your own influence.

While these two songs share components- they feel as if they are made of the same substance- they are also different enough and not just because one has lyrics and the other is largely instrumental.  I could imagine them being on the same soundtrack but they would have to be at different parts of the movie, where different emotions were concerned because each song takes me to a different place.  "Infinite Prize" could be more about love while "Setagaya" could be more about escape.  Whether you want to experience the love or the escape first is up to you and how you listen to these two singles but I would find that love and then run away with it.