L'ALVEARE

The second album of this Italian trio is for me one of the best albums of 2013 and I'm sorry to have forgotten it when I have voted for the prog album of the year. Borderline with RPI, the band has chosen to dedicate an album to literature. Each song is inspired to books.

"Rasoi Di Seta" (Silk razors) is the title of a collection of poetries by the poetess Alda Merini (1931-2009) who had suffered the experience of a madhouse in the 40s. The book was released in 2007 together with a CD containing songs and speeches by her friend "Giovanni Nuti". The interpretation of Le Maschere di Clara is heavy, dark and suffered.

"A Se Stesso"(To Himself) is inspired to a poetry published in 1835 by Giacomo Leopardi. Sad and intense. The heavy bass enphasizes the mood. This song has melodic moments and Laura Masotto's violin fits perfecly. A great song which in my opinion could have some chances for radio passages.

"Forse Il Cuore" (Heart, Maybe) is a poetry by Salvatore Quasimodo published in 1947. Let me clarify that this is not an album of poetries put in music. The lyrics are original and just inspired to the writings. This is about war. The music is again heavy and dark, driven again by bass with screamed vocals in the chorus and a melodic part substained by drums and violin. The high volume of the rhythmic instruments (drums and bass) is remarkable.

"Il Fu Mattia Pascal" (The Passed Away Mattia Pascal) is a famous novel, at least in Italy, by Luigi Pirandello who is best known for his theatrical works. The plot is very complicated and I suggest searching for it on the web.This song is mainly driven by the violin and is mostly instrumental, almost symphonic. The parts with lyrics are more noisy and the lyrics reflect quite well the story which in the novel is a subjective flashback of the main character.

"Satura" is an album of poetry from one of my favorite authors, the Nobel prize Eugenio Montale. It's mainly an arrangement for drums and violin of a classic piece, I think by Saint- Saens. It's nice that it's closed by a "satruation" effect.

"Se Questo E' Un Uomo" (If This Is A Man) is the autobiographical story of a Hebrew chemist deported at Auschwitz, Primo Levi, who later after publishing some books committed suicide. You can imagine how dramatic and dark this song can be, but I suggest grabbing a copy of the book which has been translated in many languages. Piano and operatic vocals by Laura Masotto set the mood, then the bass, heavy and high volume as usual and drums make the background for Laura's speeches. It can seem a paradox but this is probably the most melodic song of the album. It would deserve some radio passages.

It's surprising that "Notturno" from Gabriele D'Annunzio, a poet considered as the best Italian poet by Mussolini andthe fascist regime and one of the first "interventists" in the War against Austria in 1915, follows Primo Levi. Anyway Notturno is an anomaly in D'Annunzio's production. written in 1916 while he was blocked after an air crash (he was a pilot, too) is meditative. The song is very melodic, based on piano and violin and reflects well the actual status of the writer, almost blind, stuck in a bed, writing short sentences on strips of paper. It's an excellent song reminiscent of classic RPI.

"Collezioni di Sabbia" (Collections of Sand) is a collection of short essays and newspaper articles by Italo Calvino, which was released in 1984. This song is more rock oriented respect to the rest of the album. It has a little touch of "Arabian folk". Probably the sand has made the authors think to the desert. This contamination with world music works very well in my opinion, even though I think it's quite distant from the original messages from Calvino. The remind to Lawrence of Arabia (the movie soundtrack) arranged as a bolero is nice but unnecessary.

Last but not least, Dante. "Fatti Non Foste A Viver Come Bruti" is said by Ulysses in Dante's Inferno. the complete sentence means "You were not born to live like brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge" It starts with those words spelled before violin and drums give start to the song. The violin melody has a medieval touch counterbalanced by the very heavy and as usual high-volumed drums and bass. It would have been fit greatly in the Colossus Project compilation about Dante.

A great album full of contents and meanings, excellently played and arranged, not properly easy, but accessible enough to be of interest for non RIO/Avant followers. It took some time to me to enter in its mood, so my suggestion is "let it grow". Find the right moment and situation and enjoy it.