Luca Bianco, the London-based multi-instrumentalist behind Marlon Bianco & the Clones, is one of the most delightful people I’ve ever met. The conversations we had, always exquisitely Italian in both topic and language, ranged from the superiority of one 80s snack over another, to how much he didn’t care much for performing live, moving seamlessly from one genuine laugh to the next. Despite having seen each other no more than six times in total, he’s one of the few people I’d offer an honest answer to the question “how are you”.

Marlon Bianco & the Clones is a project that somewhat contrasts with the person who came up with it, while also making perfect sense. If Luca is gregarious and approachable, Life in lo-fi, Marlon Bianco’s most recent album, is dark and jazzy, lighthearted but serious. “‍We all live our life in low-fi. It can seem cool from the outside, but if we take a good look inside we might find that we are broken and mean,” said Luca in an interview with Raw Meat.

Born from a few simple chords on a Roaland keyboard toy, Marlon Bianco’s tunes, written during the lockdown, clearly draw inspiration from the alien experience of forced solitude and the aimless wandering through empty city streets. It’s a melancholic cyberpunk soup that celebrates the darkness of the night as much as it does the city lights that punctuate it. The hypnotic lyrical repetitions sound like a mantra to the insomniacs, kept interesting by the generous instrumental segments that allow the mind to ramble.

Beautifully produced with Cathy Lucas (of Vanishing Twin), Life in lo-fi is futuristic and nostalgic at the same time, a tribute to (and a testament of) a weird reality that everyone was swift to forget as soon as things went back to normal… whatever that means.