MOD.BAROCCO, FRAGILE, MANEGGIARE CON CURA. GRAZIE!

I Pennelli di Vermeer or ''The brushes of Vermeer'', named after the work of Dutch painter of Johannes Vermeer, were formed in 2002 in Napoli by five young musicians, Pasquale Sorrentino on vocals, Raffaele Polimeno on keyboards, Marco Sorrentino on drums, Pasquale Palomba on guitar and Giovanni Santoro on bass.They self-released their debut the next year under the artistic title ''Mod. Barocco, Fragile, Maneggiare con cura, Grazie!", of course featuring a painting by Vermeer in the front cover.

Impossible to be defined, their style is a very theatrical, modern Art Rock, deriving elements almost from any possible musical source and setting up a very rich and dense musicianship, having Art Rock as the initial basis and moving on from this point through time and place.Of course the flavor is always rocking, sometimes with some quite heavy guitar moves, but the overall mood is very theatrical with breaks leading from groovy lines to melodic ans sometimes old-fashioned styles, like 60's Soul Pop, Funk or Cabaret Music, while the album contains plenty of multi-vocal arrangements.The array of keyboards help to this unique music journey of the group, including piano, organ, synthesizers and harsichord, thus starting from the sixties and ending up in recent years.The Italian taste of the vocals are another positive asset of I Pennelli di Vermeer, though hardly the band can be compared to any of the significant acts of the country.Some vintage keyboard-led instrumental plays even have a strong psychedelic vibe from the early-70's, while even fans of more Classic-oriented Prog will find something to like in here.The overall combination does not work extremely well in some tracks, but the general style has its own charm and comes as definitely personal.

If a term Theatrical Prog would be invented, I Pennelli di Vermeer should be listed as one of the candidates.Pleasant, optimistic and multi-influenced music with impressive vocal lines.Recommended.