ATTO PRIMO

Before anything, this is in no way shape or form, a reflection on some marooned volleyball faraway beach in Fedexland but a crafty quartet from Italy that as per norm with the RPI genre , unites old school operatics with a modern sheen. Their début album « Il Viaggio da Farsi » landed in my collection in 2022 and though I did not get to review it, it did leave a strong impression of future reviewing possibilities. Alas, so much fabulous music and so little time ! Unfortunately, I am not an octopus either, nevertheless I do enjoy my Gentle Giant. Being a huge fan of wordplay, calling your second album "Atto Primo" (First Act) is right down genius lane in my book, a precurser hint that this will be quite the ride. Fronted by the exuberant vocalist Annalisa Ghiazza and elbowed by a troika of extremely gifted instrumentalists, namely keyboardist Andrea Protopapa, bassist Stefano Rapetti and drum maestro Mattia Pastorino , we are booked into a series of 6 intrepid tracks , set on interpreting famous operas and composers of the past, which should not come as a surprise really as Italy is not really a country but rather a theatre of sight and sound.

"Ouverture" establishes the cinematic travelogue that will suggest a global voyage that would make Marco Polo blush. A blaring trumpet volley that rekindles images of Roman centurions returning from battle and heading down to the Circus Maximus, a deviation into a variety of subsiding moods, the drums still up front and center, with a droll Fellini clown beckoning the citizenry near the piazza.

First stage, the velvet SPQR curtain rises on China , where "Taiji" combines opera and physical movements of Tai Chi, introducing a sultry duet between Annalisa's pulmonary singing and the squeaky synthesizer running rampant, both unafraid of stretching the extremes, an acrobatic bass line meandering between raging organ torrents, and settling into a comfortable muscularity, both 'instruments' getting into the spotlight and flirting with virtuoso zeal. The ambient section is stunning in its simplicity and restraint, a facet this band seem to master at will, rather informal when the rhythm section can regulate both mutability and flexing its muscles. The Trans-Siberian express will take us to the "Bolshoi" is the famed palace and ballet school in Moscow , icy synths sweeping in from the Arctic and a sweltering organ from way down south, where the balalaikas ring out, Annalisa vocally tip toeing and pirouetting like a ballerina on fire. Kudos once again must go to the intricate interaction between the incontrollable bass furrow and the orderly percussive thunder. An unforeseen guest on flute (perhaps a patch) suggests lighter moments yet the ballet ends with a quaking Pastorino drum solo. Onwards to Bayreuth, a more direct route into the heart of Europe, the substantial near 13-minute epic "Ragnarok" refers to Richard Wagner's bombastic 'Twilight of the Gods' from the opera 'Gotterdammerung". Protopapa thankfully gleams on the piano for a while as the arrangement then morphs into complexity and development, at times Teutonically chaotic, the keyboards and the rotund bass seeding the fury. Technically thorough and shamelessly ambitious, Annalisa's voice remains somewhat sardonic , as the embattled world around her collapses in destruction and decay. Yet amid the chaos, a flute synth section keeps hopes alive. Drums, bass and mellotron set up the sonic troika, long enough for another synth denouement that winks cleverly at all the keyboard idols , Ghiazza slaloming through the tide as if in her own bubble. The Wagnerian influence means that it's laden with richly orchestrated leitmotivs, endless melodic continuity and pushing the blurred edges of tonality. Intricate sonics, mein Gott!

Travelling to the land of the Rising Sun, "Nihonga" specifically refers to Japanese paper paintings but perhaps leaning into Puccini's "Madame Butterfly" opera which of course takes place in Japan. The caterpillar crawls jauntily to its inevitable fate, the quartet formatting the chrysalis from which the monarch will eventually scour the bonsai gardens in complete reverence. The pace is more sedate than the previous argy-bargy, a well-developed tangent piece that exudes cleverness and charm. We finish off with a languorous journey along the Nile, as "Duat" concerns ancient Egyptian mythology but here possibly more a reference to Giuseppe Verdi's "Aida" which occurs among the pyramids of the fabled land. This is the colossal epic (Aida is generally famed for its ambitious theatrical sets), with flute and orchestra leading the caravan into the arid desert , yet the brazen synthesizer dominates immediately once the tempo is set. While the trio set-up musically might indicate leaning towards an ELP stylistic, truth be told, this has definitely a more Italian flavoured rendering, naturally due to the native discourse but the instrumental parts as well, a certain theatrical wildness, temper swings and bouncy accoutrements that were not the mainstay of the British supergroup. Annalisa can lather up the existential drama, as she clutches her microphone without any fear of overkill. The obsessive piano fill is a case in point, just flirting with the outer edges of absurdity , the shuffling Hammond fulfills the deal, and the bass/drum combo apply all the stamps needed to go through passport control on the way home. This innate ability to revere the classic RPI tradition , yet still wrap it all in a modern sheen, proves once and for all , what a consistent art form Italian prog remains, as vital and vibrant today than in 1972. A full-bore Maserati spinning tires finale is par for the course , jus like antipasto at the onset and tiramisu /grappa to finish off the adventure.

An entertaining follow up to their inaugural release , and certainly a new ragazzo on the square that needs to be followed for Atto Secondo (ma, davvero Terzo) .

4.5 Mobile donnas

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