RICORDI?

A young Italian band from Piacenza, which was established in 2008 as a six-piece act with female singer Sara Aliani, Fabrizio Maffei on bass, Andrea Poggi on guitar, Cristian Piga on sax, Michele Molinari on drums and Fabrizio Delledonne on keyboards.They recorded their debut ''Ricordi?'' in May/June 2009 at Mofia Studios in Piacenza and self-released it the same year.

The sound of Lagartija is quite strange.It is a modern Art Rock album with evident Post Rock vibes, having the depth of the genre but lacking their dynamics.The keyboard and piano parts though has some sort of vintage feel, coming from somewhere near Canterbury around mid-70s and featuring very smooth organ and especially electric piano vibes.This feeling is strengthened also by the constant and melodic use of saxes by Piga.Antique seeking Nuns often spring to mind while listening to Lagartija.Sara Aliani has an excellent and clear voice, somewhat reminiscent to that of Simona Rigano of Conqueror fame.All tracks have a very somber mood, being very sensitive and atmospheric compositions with balanced instrumentation, but the limited presence of some more evident electric guitars make the album a better listening for background music, despite its true artistic value.The overall result is good, most of the tracks have enough different movements to catch the attention of the listener, but the last and longest one is the only piece with some true energy.

I think lovers of more emotional and laid-back compositions will admire Lagartija's approach.''Ricordi?'' is a succesful first work by the group, which though has some space for improvement.Recommended.