TUORL

Progressive rock and jazz/fusion related music is frequently deadly serious and overloaded with clinical stuffy playing, right? Not the case at all with Italian instrumental band Feat.Esserelà, and yes, that's actually the confusing band name! `Esserelà' refers to a puppet that resides in the rehearsal room of the band and accompanies them on stage for live performances, and this is an early indication of the sly humour this trio apply to their music! In addition to the goofy cover art and cute cartoon illustrations throughout the CD booklet, it's pretty obvious that they don't take themselves too seriously, although they still display the expected skilful and enviable musicianship. Their debut album `Tuorl' offers plenty of jazz/fusion flair by way of snappy drumming, fiery electric guitar runs, an array of keyboard colour and that warmest of piano that Italian musicians play so beautifully, and it might just be one of the most energetic, lively and fun albums of 2015!

Much of the album is made up of shorter punchy pieces full of energy. Of some of the highlights, manic spastic bursts of Francesco Ciampolini's delirious Hammond organ, Renato Minguzzi's scorching guitar and Lorenzo Muggias's thrashing drumming tear through the amusingly titled opener `Don't Leave Your Dinosauri at Home'. There's plenty of thrashing guts to `Anche Cotoletta', and the foot-tapping beat and singing Hammond throughout `Il Nostra...' holds a Caravan-like playfulness before some smoking hot wailing guitar soloing. Both `What a (Tetra) Pack' and, with its sprightly piano, `Canguros...' could almost be lighter moments off the Seventies Focus albums, and `Symbols' is a grunting groover that almost breaks out disco beats.

But it's the longer pieces that really hint at what the band can do. Although the transitions in the three part `S.R.L.A' aren't too smooth, the piece begins as a drifting distorted guitar drone, crashes into a gutsy guitar drive and closes on a soothing piano finale. Despite all the movement and frenetic diversions elsewhere on the disc, it's when the band settles down a little and offers something a bit more emotional and moving that they really impress. Running over eight minutes, `No ( )' allows plenty of build and controlled flights of jazzy instrumental moods, jumping back and forth between hot guitar runs and piano that's breezy and dazzling, and when called on, Ciampolini displays classy restraint and intelligent thoughtfulness. The peppy ending closes on a surprising quirky Gentle Giant-like bounciness! Breezy late-night piano vibes stroll through `Un Duettrè' Qqua' before laid-back guitar cruises alongside it, another standout moment on a great disc.

Admittedly eleven tracks is probably a bit too many, with occasional repetition creeping in here and there, and some of the shorter pieces would benefit from being developed more and extended rather than being overloaded with little ideas thrown together in the future. But the skill with which so many rapid changes of direction are delivered by the band is stunning, even more impressive considering it's a debut album, and their music in infectious, full of life and spontaneity. Feat.Esserelà are definitely a talented Italian band to keep an eye on in the future, so please investigate this tireless and playful album!

Four stars.