MACCHIE DI INCHIOSTRO SU CARTA SENSIBILE

Sergio Caleca from Milan is another of the many one-man, multi-instrumentalist phenoms who inhabit our lovely ProgArchives halls. These guys and gals compose everything and play all the instruments themselves, and they tend to be prolific, an understatement for Sergio who has cranked out about a dozen albums in the past decade. While he favors the instrumental, he will occasionally bring in a guest vocalists or other guests. During the 2010s, Sergio was keyboardist for the RPI band Ad Maiora from Milan, and he now works under the moniker Habelard2. His latest album, Macchie d'inchiostro su carta sensibile, continues fleshing out his growing symphonic prog catalog. The title refers to a project of poems and photographs he had been working on but which never came to fruition.

One of my favorite things about this material is the huge, up-front bass sound that runs through several tracks and the almost funky vibe, an interesting element on a largely symphonic album. I was reminded of Alan Parsons or maybe Duke era Genesis sans vocals. Despite the lack of vocals and lyrics, the songs very much have a feel of complex storytelling due to the great care taken in musical development, arrangements, and superb keyboard work. The expected lush elements are here in all their magnificence: lovely piano runs, flute, strings, choirs (or perhaps just samples of these, but the effect is the same.) It's beautiful stuff, and I really enjoyed the dreamy nature and dissolving into the songs. "La polvere sotto il tappeto" was another standout, an excellent mix of classical guitar to bass and flute with bucolic imagery.

My only criticism is the same one I have with most of these artists who are one-person projects. There is an inherent wholeness and depth of personality that comes from the essence of a rock band: the varying creativity styles, the collaboration, the arguments, the friendships, the intertwining histories of, often, youthful adventures together. A band brings a lot of additional fuel and compelling emotional diversity to an album of music. Almost always I will notice that part missing when listening to lone multi-instrumentalists regardless of how talented they may be. It's subtle, for sure, but it's a thing. Despite that reservation, this is a good album, and I encourage anyone who enjoys traditional symphonic prog recorded with modern technology to check out any of his many albums. There is much here to appreciate.

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