Very rarely, but every so often, an album of music crosses my path that completely stands on it’s own without comparison to anything that has come before or will come after it.

That is the case with Dugo‘s new record Lingua Franca which is the culmination of years and years of working with an international palette of top class musical talent to gradually piece together something unique, exciting and quite epic.

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You might not recognize the name Dugo but if you’re as big a fan of the Metal Gear Solid video game series as I am, you might recognize the name Takahiro Izutani, co-composer of MGS 4’s soundtrack.

Dugo is an alias of Takahiro.

Having played guitar in an instrumental rock band called Happy Family since the ’90s and having worked on an array of productions as composer, arranger and remixer, Takahiro has been slowly piecing together the ultimate independent musician’s magnum opus.

All songs on Lingua Franca were composed, programmed, and mixed by Takahiro, but here’s a shout out to the friends that contributed.

• Takahiro played acoustic guitar on all 9 tracks.
• Paolo Fontana (of Ecovanavoce) played chitarra rinascimentale (renaissance guitar), tiorbino (small theorbo), and viola da gamba on Track 3. He played viola da gamba basso on Track 8.
• Fabio Lorenzi (of Ecovanavoce) played chitarra barocca (baroque guitar) on Track 3, and viola da gamba tenore on Track 8.
• Monica Pegis played violin on Track 4.

The electro-experimental compositions of Dugo exist in a lane all their own just waiting for you to discover their sonic greatness.

Back in 2006, Dugo’s track Dublin was used in the CBS TV series “CSI : Miami Season 3”. With that said, Dugo might be new to us but now we have a lot back catalog discovering to do!

Lingua Franca is a must add to your collection, no matter your tastes.

This record is exciting. It thrills. It chills. It surprises. It moves you…physically, mentally and spiritually speaking. It’ll make you feel plenty of emotion, too!

Lingua Franca is available on Bandcamp.

Connect with Dugo on the official website or on Twitter.