DOOOM Orchestra is an Italian, Padua-based collective of twelve young musicians, founded in 2018 and led by drummer-percussionist Francesco Cigana, which investigates free improvisational practices. This ensemble released its debut album, Our Sea Lies Within, six years after its foundation, following accumulated experience, study, and over thirty site-specific performances and concerts.
The DOOOM Orchestra’s sophomore album, Our Sea Lies Within II, was recorded at the same recording session as the debut album, at Onara Swamp Hall in Tombolo in July 2023. It continues to explore the urgent but concise sonic shapes already sketched on the debut album. Cigana designed the cover artwork for both albums and contributed his poetry to the album cover.
DOOOM Orchestra aims to create organic, collective language, comprised of simple yet evocative, repetitive themes and grooves. These patiently gain more colours, weight, and nuances as they develop, never subscribing to familiar forms but maintaining coherent narratives. The ensemble’s interplay imagines a common ocean that feeds the individual voices: the vocal, reed, string, and rhythm sections, the subtle timbral explorations, and the emphatic, dramatic, ritualist-tribal dynamics. The uplifting, repetitive melodic theme of “EWHPTIV” corresponds with Mongezi Feza’s iconic theme of “You Ain’t Gonna Know Me ‘Cos You Think You Know Me” (first performed by the South African Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood Of Breath).
Francesco Cigana (drums, percussion, objects); Nina Baietta (voice); Jacopo Giacomoni (alto saxophone); Francesco Salmaso (tenor saxophone); Agnese Amico (violin); Francesca Baldo (violin); Enrico Milani (cello); Sirio Nagro (electric guitar, objects); Andrea Zerbetto (piano); Riccardo Matetich (tabla, found objects, percussion); Marco Valerio (electric bass); Andrea Davì (drums).
Dooom Orchestra – Our Sea Lies Within II (Aut, 2025)
