ANTOLOGIA

It´s kind of funny that this little album was made in Palermo Sicily some 39 years ago, because what the music really reminds me of, is the most northern parts of Denmark called Skagen. We are a small nation, and apart from H.C. Andersen and his fairy tales - the only other thing people from the outside world might recognize, and this is indeed if you´re an art aficionado, is perhaps the eloquent work of The Skagen Painters. From the late 1870s until the turn of the century, this small group of artists decided to go against what was being taught at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts - looking towards France and the Impressionistic movement, but with a unique touch incorporating a good deal of realism into their paintings. Skagen was a small fisherman´s community, and this naturally seeped through into the paintings, as many of the local fishermen often were used as subjects. Now before I get ahead of myself, and start talking about Danish culture and the works, I´d like to point out, that whilst Era di Acquario´s sole album may not necessarily be speaking about this important point in time to the Danish arts, (in fact I find it rather preposterous if it did) the music of it contains perhaps the best musical odes to these nostalgic times. There is something about the light up here in the Northern parts of Jutland that is different to everywhere else I´ve been in my country, and somehow, in some magical way, every time I put this album on, I feel like strolling down the beach in one of P.S. Krøyer´s paintings. This sentence needs explaining, and I´m getting to that don´t you worry.

There is something about the way this band plays the acoustic instruments here, and while they are most definitely rooted in the Italian folk tradition, the overall breezy nature of these, - how they seem to float on the air like lingering snowflakes that for some unfathomable reason never touch the ground, - this wafting feel to it really speaks to me about those Skagen paintings. Today, because I now live here and experience these images on a daily basis, the light of Northern Jutland has almost become ingrained in me, meaning that I from time to time feel like I´m walking around in some weird bizarre pseudo world of old famous Danish paintings. The music of Era di Acquario helps these whims of mine, and I´ll surely be locked up in a rubber cell any day now.

Just like the light here is extremely delicate and fragile, so is this music. The satin like sweeps of the acoustic guitars, or the gentle way the flute is handled - all points towards this highly feminine and muliebrous feel there is to this music. They accompany each other like long lost lovers, and together inside the music they obtain the feel of a perfect symbiosis. Underneath the starstruck lovers often you´ll get muffled hand drums prancing away like small earthbound rhythm devices grabbing a hold of the windy music, that by now is threatening to leave the confines of the ground. These are the places in this album where I hold my breath and get the chills. Beautiful moments. I put this album on in the mornings, and it has become somewhat of a daily ritual to finish this while I´m getting ready for work. It calms me down, and speaks to me about the wonders of the world in an almost lovingly way - that surpasses any sort of radio show trying to get you in shape for the day, and sends you on your way with what feels like hundreds of warm kisses conveyed in musical bliss.

Now this could sound like the review for a 5 star album, but it´s not. Just like my fellow colleague Jim(Finnforest) - I too feel rather untouched by the rock sensibilities of this album. It´s not bad or anything, but you can´t help but think about the extreme differences there are between these outer bounds of the music. On one hand the folk induced acoustic sprees of this album are beyond words and sound to me like walking euphorically around in a beautiful painting from 18something, but the other side of the story tells a somewhat uninteresting anecdote of lukewarm adventures in rock music. The Italian vocals now turn from gentle and warm - maybe slightly high pitched but still very soothing and aptly sung within the folky confines - to the screaming rock n´ roll platitudes of nearly every 1970s band you can think of. Put simply: the pieces doesn´t fit together - not really. And that doesn´t take away from the heartfelt and soul massaging ventures in Italian folk music that otherwise characterize most of this outing, but sadly does however make me warrant the whole album with a 3.5 rating.

Again these ratings are not everything, and if you´re like me and yearn for the brighter and warmer days of spring, where the skies are lit up - the ground is greener and friendlier to the touch, then what this album does, is to give you exactly that, and more - all you need to do, is to listen intently and let yourself be swept away into the sandy dunes of the Skagen Painters´ late soundtrack troubadours.

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