Venusia is the first official output of friends and collaborators Henrik Meierkord (cello), Pawel Kobak (flute), Marco Lucchi (electronics) and Rocco Saviano (guitar). What started as an overseas passing of ideas between Meierkord and Saviano, eventually blossomed into a full collaborative effort with Kobak and Lucchi. Having all collaborated extensively with each other (such as Meierkord and Kobak’s Marhia project), it felt more like finishing each other’s sentences, despite being geographically isolated. Venusia, both a genus of moth and a town in Italy, also refers to Venus, the Roman goddess of beauty, love, and charm – and the mother of the Roman people. The planet Venus was so named because, after the Earth’s moon, it was the brightest natural object in the sky, bright enough to cast shadows. This album, stunningly complemented by Valerii Bogorod’s , reflects this charming yet fragile beauty. ‘Indigo Moon’ opens the album with an outstretching, gently swirling overture. And yet, rather than a brief introduction of the instrumentalists, it stands as the longest piece on the album. As if diving into an all-consuming trip, seeing the earth and heavens spin around each other, it unfolds in harmony but without structure. Saviano’s spirited guitar, Meierkord’s earthly cello, and Kobak’s heavenly flute are welded together within Lucchi’s electronic vision. From here, clarity shines through with a series of shorter, brighter pieces. The album’s title track, ‘Venusia’, now invokes the album’s main theme: beauty, love, and charm. The three ‘Eranthis Hyemalis’ pieces then mimic the nature of the plant species after which they’re named. A spring ‘ephemeral’ plant, eranthis hyemalis briefly flower at the time of most sunlight, before dying back for the remainder of the year. These three blossoming yet fleeting compositions evoke the transitory nature of love and beauty, its form never static but in constant change. ‘El Duende’, in Spanish, is to possess a heightened state of emotion, expression, and authenticity. Led by Saviano’s Spanish guitar, Meierkord’s cello flourishes with emotive expression. Finally, the album is brought to a close with ‘Sunshine (Stilla Natt)’, a dually-themed piece playing the Sun’s beauty off the stillness of nighttime. Venusia is an album dedicated to the concept of beauty, both in its Classical representation as ornate and delicate, and its boundless, loving capacity. Through its delicate melodies and glimmering tone, it marries expansive emotion with simple charm, evoking fields of flowers beneath vast, open skies.