This soundtrack started composing itself over a year ago. I read and reread Dante's Inferno, and, over time, themes and moods slowly started to emerge in my guitar playing. Some songs grew directly out of very specific poetic passages (e.g. Canto V), while others floated over the text until they eventually found a home (e.g. Canto XXIV).

On this album, I play steel and nylon string acoustic guitars, mandolin, electric guitar and bass. This was my first attempt at playing prepared guitar using drumsticks (either as wedges under the strings on my steel string acoustic guitar or as beaters to strike the strings themselves).

I also used self-oscillating guitar pedals to build layers of feedback, drone and noise and then used the resulting ambient passages to signal those liminal moments when Virgil guides Dante the pilgrim over into each of the nine circles of hell.

Somewhat contrary to popular belief, Inferno is not all doom and gloom. There are - nestled amidst the scorching flames, the gaping slabs of torn flesh, and the stench of human waste - a few jokes and many moments of genuine tenderness. And so the devil gets a comical swaggering blues solo (Canto XXIII) and Dante imagines dancing a tango with the sodomites just before he pulls himself back from embracing them (Canto XVI).

Track titles come from Allen Mandelbaum's translation 'The Divine Comedy' (Everyman's Library).

Literary guidance came from two wonderful teachers. Giuseppe Mazzotta:

oyc.yale.edu/italian-language-and-literature/ital-310

and Robert Harrison:

entitledopinions.stanford.edu/robert-harrison-dante-and-prufrock

entitledopinions.stanford.edu/rachel-jacoff-hell-other-people-dantes-inferno

"Canto V: Love, that releases no beloved from loving" contains the following public domain sample:

freesound.org/people/cognito%20perceptu/sounds/31614/

For accompanying videos:

youtu.be/5rN-hBgLC_k