THE SUN IS NEW EACH DAY

Armonite began life in Pavia in 1996 and in 1999 released an interesting debut album entitled Inuit on the independent label Mellow Records. After a long hiatus, in 2014 the band came back to life on the initiative of Paolo Fosso (keyboards) and Jacopo Bigi (electric violin), two classical trained musicians in love with rock and modern audio-visual arts. For the recording sessions of their new album, The Sun Is New Each Day, thanks to the new technologies who allow working via internet, the line up was temporarily completed with the contribute of British bassist Colin Edwin (from Porcupine Tree) and Dutch drummer Jasper Barendregt while the guest Marcello Rosa played cello on two tracks. The album was produced, engineered and mixed by Paul Reeve in Cornwall, mastered by Geoff Pesche at the Abbey Road Studios in London and finally digitally self-released in 2015 on bandcamp with a nice art work by Cyril Rolando a.k.a. AquaSixio.

The album features nine relatively short instrumental tracks where violin and keyboards perfectly interact with each other weaving charming melodic lines backed by the tight rhythm section. The classical influences are strong but always mixed with gusto and extravaganza, there are no long suites and although the pieces are not overtly complex they are never banal and the music flows away without weak moments. According to the band, some of the pieces were conceived as short soundtracks and some videos were shot to complete in some way the music. It's the case of the nice opener "Suitcase War", suspended between classical tradition and modernity, where you can see in the video the band performing in a virtual, empty opera theatre with the help of a remote drummer...

The following "Connect Four" blends touches of electronica, a bit of folk and brushes of classical taste and leads to the frenzied "G as in Gears" that features a short narrative vocal part evoking a commuter's routine, then comes "Sandstorm" that conjures up Oriental sceneries and ethnic flavours... The overall sound is well refined and the songwriting brilliant and full of nuances, although every now and again light reminiscences of albums such as Jet Leg by Premiata Forneria Marconi or Florian by Le Orme could come to mind the band sound modern and not stuck in the past at all.

The disquieting "Slippery Slope", the dreamy "Satellites", the hectic "Die Grauen Herren", the delicate, romantic "Le temps qui fait ta rose" and the conclusive, video-game inspired "Insert Coin" complete a coherent and cohesive set that in my opinion is really worth listening to.

The aim of the band is to play their music live as much as possible, that's why you can legally download the complete album for free: the musicians just hope that you will enjoy the music and spread the word out to help them to find gigs around the world, so... Well, have a try and judge by yourselves!

'The Sun is New Each Day' - Armonite (78/100)

I have an undying respect for Italy's progressive rock underground. In the good old days they were arguably second only to the British prog powerhouse, and even then they had a theatrical sound that was distinctly their own. I'm not sure it would be quite fair to lump Armonite in the same canon as Premiata Forneria Marconi and their ilk, there's a similar sense of adventurousness in their sound that you seldom hear in modern prog anymore. The Sun is New Each Day bridges the gap between avant-prog and art rock. Blended together under an instrumental approach, it's surprising that this is only Armonite's second album. While they're a bit too eclectic to have a distinctive sound of their own, their consummate playfulness clearly indicates they're confident enough to know what they're doing.

In my experience of avant-prog, I've noticed groups fall into one of two categories. The first focus heavily on the cerebral element of the avant-garde, treating their art as an intellectual exercise. The second tries to inject that serious framework with character and humour. While it's lamentable that few of these artists are as skilled as comedians as they are as musicians, it's a great blend when it works well. It's impressive in its own right that Armonite are able to get the impression of humour across with a minimum of vocals. Save for a handful of spoken word samples, The Sun is New Each Day is entirely instrumental, but you can still tell Armonite approach their craft with tongue-in-cheek. Arguably the best example of their humour at work is on "Insert Coin", where a playful rhythm is spruced up with 8-bit video game samples.

Musically, Armonite are defined by Jacopo Bigi's electric violin arguably filling in the role of a lead guitar. Although the band's sound shifts too much more song to song to develop a singular sense of character, his violin carries a lot of the band's performance along. As performers, Armonite are at the top of their game; such as it is, I'm shocked they've been relatively silent since their debut release nearly two decades ago. Veteran proggers may be excited to hear that Porcupine Tree bassist Colin Edwin takes part on the album. The thick bass grooves on PT's material are replaced here by playful licks, but the same talent is undeniable. Hopefully it won't be another sixteen years before we hear another record from Armonite. This approach may have been heard before, but it's not often you hear it done with such liveliness.