Gramophone Magazine’s great review of album A Screenshot of Now!

Thank you to Gramophone Magazine, and editor Edward Breen, for a great review of our album A Screenshot of Now, in their May 2026 edition! It is always wonderful when people connect with one’s artistic creation, and especially wonderful, when the work receives a positive critical review.

“A Screenshot of Now’ is a new song-cycle for three solo voices and guitar composed by Giacomo Susani (b1995), set to poetry by Chinwe D John, who also appears as a narrator on this album, a crucial fourth voice. It’s a dramatic, compelling exploration of modern life, covering capitalism, technology, love, nature and mortality. Its title, which to my mind invokes Zeno’s arrow, is typical of the direct-but-poignant nature of the whole cycle, having also just a little touch of millennial sass, which I adore. Susani (who is also the guitarist) writes music that vividly depicts both landscapes and emotions, featuring a generous palette of timbres such that this 14-poem cycle can be described as containing ever-shifting moods, ranging from cheerful joy to mournful sorrow, and from lively dance to intense lyricism.” (Gramophone Magazine)

The creation of this album was a beautiful journey, with many twists and turns, but the destination was always clear. Having a wonderful collaborator in the form of maestro Giacomo Susani, certainly helped ensure that our artistic vision was brought to life, as we imagined it.

“Chinwe D John’s lyrics have such a strong narrative tug that by the second song, Tim Mead’s gloriously lyrical singing of the chorus ‘I’ve come to save you. / I bring you peace. / I’ll bring you freedom, / And if freedom fails, / Then I’ll take you away’ will have you hooked.” (Gramophone Magazine)

A Screenshot of Now receives a positive review in Gramophone Magazine.