Eric Therer, Jazzmania (15/09/2023)
Je ne sais si le titre de cet album se veut un hommage à Picabia. Un parallèle entre la démarche artistique de ce dernier et celle du musicien et compositeur Giacomo Merega n’est pas à exclure, celui-ci confessant avoir été subjugué par le célèbre tableau éponyme quand il était adolescent. Le trio Camera con Camera, emmené par et composé de Giacomo Merega à la basse et au chant, Rema Hasumi à la voix et au synthétiseur, et Todd Neufled à la guitare, s’emploie à tracer les lignes d’une cartographie imaginaire et abstraite, à la fois soucieuse d’une certaine géométrie spatiale tout en évitant résolument ses contretypes. Le disque s’ouvre sur trois pièces concises de Merega pour basse solo. C’est ensuite au trio de prendre la relève. Et là, la voix se fait entendre par le truchement de vocalises fugaces, fluettes à certains détours, souvent méditatives. La guitare ajuste les arêtes. La basse – électrique – se fait chatoyante. Des mélodies sans pourtour déterminé prennent forme.

Parmi ses influences, Merega cite Morton Feldman, Evan Parker, les quatuors pour cordes de John Cage et Mark Hollis de Talk Talk. D’origine génoise, mais installé à New York depuis plusieurs années, Merega a régulièrement joué aux côtés des guitaristes Joe Morris et David Tronzo, du saxophoniste Noah Kaplan et du batteur Jason Nazary. À la base, ces six dernières compositions pour trio ont été commissionnées pour le chorégraphe Chia Ying Kao. Elles trouvent ici leur première matérialisation sur un support physique pour l’excellent label gantois el Negocito, toujours curieux quand il le faut.

George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly, Creative Music and other forms of Avant Garde (25/05/2023)
Playing bass guitar and chanting, Giacomo Merega brings in the voice and synthesizer of Rema Hasum and guitarist Todd Neufeld for nine “ideas”. Merega brings three solo tracks, to open things up, including a very high pitched ‘Sonno Nelle Campane” and a blue waltz of “Due Notturni Secchi II”. From there , Hasumi’s edgy voice adds to the effects of “’Dard” , a lullaby of “Forest” and a dreamlike “Anthropometrie” while Neufeld is gentle on your mind on ”How We Like To Sing Along”. Was the tape just rolling along?

Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery New York (27/01/2023)
Although we’ve had hundreds of gigs at our store, we’ve only a small number of electric bass players. The only ones that come to mind are Simon Jermyn, Giacomo Merega and recently Tete Leguia (from Peru). Most bass players who play here play mostly acoustic bass. From time to time, Mr. Merega has contacted me about a new CD and/or doing an in-store performance. In the past I’ve heard Mr. Merega collaborating with Noah Kaplan, Marco Cappelli, Dave Tronzo and Josh Sinton. Most of these folks like to play quietly and often deal with odd intonation. Mr. Merega also worked with guitarist Todd Neufeld in trio with Josh Sinton (from 2020). I’ve had my eye on guitarist Todd Neufeld for several years, since he works with Tyshawn Sorey, Carlo Costa & Samuel Blaser. Ms. Rema Hasumi plays piano in a trio with a live CD out on the GauciMusic label. For this record Ms. Hasumi plays synth and uses her voice, but plays no piano. The first three pieces here are for solo bass guitar, something that we rarely hear about. Mr. Merega has a lovely, warm sound on his bass guitar. The three solo bass pieces stark, thoughtful and rather quaint sounding. Although they are restrained, they do have a certain subtle quality which is I find to be charming. The trio for bass guitar, voice and el guitar has its own unique sound. Mr. Merega’s bass is often at the center played those thoughtful written lines. Ms. Hasumi’s hushed wordless voice and Neufeld’s guitar aoften play some counterpoint to Merega’s insistent bass lines. The voice and guitar often use some haunting swirls weaving in and out of the throbbing bass lines. The overall effect is rather dream-like yet often skeletal. Time slows down and subtly reigns supreme here. At times, Mr. Neufeld plays just a few fragmented notes/sounds, let each note hang in the silence between the other notes. Although Ms. Hasumi sings no words, her voice still conveys some unique feelings of solemnity. I can’t think of any other disc I’ve heard in recent times that sounds quite like this. This is a most modest and still tasty gem!