"Sleeping Like A Maniac is an album that takes you everywhere;
listeners are alternately challenged, enthralled, uplifted, entertained, upset, comforted
and ultimately, amused by the sheer breadth of the goods on offer.
This is an album that isn’t to be missed!'
At The Barrier (UK) 22/9/21
‘Songwriting plumbs new depths... showing his classical study of form and structure,
track presents one surprise after another... Should knock critics and fans for six
with his latest Sleeping Like A Maniac’
Rhythms Magazine Aus 9/2021
"One of the country's most interesting new acoustic guitar talents."
Australian Guitar Magazine
"Like Leo Kottke and John Fahey on the instrumentals and John Prine on the songs."
fRoots Magazine (UK)
"Barefoot Wonderland is right: Bernasconi is so laid back here you can see the soles on those bare feet."
Rolling Stone Magazine (AUS)
About
Originally from Cambridgeshire England, Justin Bernasconi settled in the urban heart of Melbourne’s music community in 2004. Known as one of the city’s finest guitarists and songwriters, he continues to explore and expand his craft to raise the banner of ‘folk’ over new horizons. His previous solo albums delivered a captivating mix of alt-folk, Americana and bluegrass between evocative stories and exhilarating instrumentals. He looks back to British roots on third release Sleeping Like A Maniac. Tracks evolve like acts in a play. From setting the scene of one man's emotional journey through to vignettes of whimsy and soliloquies of despair and hope.
Bernasconi’s rendering of what he calls ‘Folk Impressionism’ can be heard in these videos.
Rules of form are broken, revealing sonic sophistication outside the square. Bernasconi’s deft cross-picking drives the surging rhythm of mental turmoil. It’s the tale of a man striving to move on from his relationship mess, his lies and confusion. Intense dissonant guitar is relieved by harmony as vocals rise and fall.
Australian audiences have embraced Bernasconi’s stirring fusion of mainstream and experimental folk. He draws from a deep well of influences. The classical world, indie folk and world-wide cultures all inform Bernasconi’s compositions. Just as Rock and Roll was born of the Blues and UK Punk assumed the vibe of Reggae, Bernasconi’s sound builds genre-bending bridges. Moods segue from folk balladry to rhythmic abstract urgency. (Think Jethro Tull’s ‘Thick As A Brick’ or Pink Floyd’s ‘Mother’.) The video for ‘Golden Leaves’ was recorded live by Jim Arneman, in a church hall in Melbourne on a cold autumn morning. Sitting in solitude, driving guitar and the voicing of a searching mind speak volumes.
Bernasconi’s rendering of what he calls ‘Folk Impressionism’ can be heard in these videos.
Rules of form are broken, revealing sonic sophistication outside the square. Bernasconi’s deft cross-picking drives the surging rhythm of mental turmoil. It’s the tale of a man striving to move on from his relationship mess, his lies and confusion. Intense dissonant guitar is relieved by harmony as vocals rise and fall.
Australian audiences have embraced Bernasconi’s stirring fusion of mainstream and experimental folk. He draws from a deep well of influences. The classical world, indie folk and world-wide cultures all inform Bernasconi’s compositions. Just as Rock and Roll was born of the Blues and UK Punk assumed the vibe of Reggae, Bernasconi’s sound builds genre-bending bridges. Moods segue from folk balladry to rhythmic abstract urgency. (Think Jethro Tull’s ‘Thick As A Brick’ or Pink Floyd’s ‘Mother’.) The video for ‘Golden Leaves’ was recorded live by Jim Arneman, in a church hall in Melbourne on a cold autumn morning. Sitting in solitude, driving guitar and the voicing of a searching mind speak volumes.