NEMO, MILANO, CLEMENTE - FRATTURA COMPARSA DISSOLVENZA

* originally written for www.jazzmusicarchives.com

Unorthodox Italian vocalist Claudio Milano's newest album, "Frattura, Comparsa, Dissolvenza," was recorded by a quartet with electronic artist Borda and two pianists/electronic artists, Niccolo Clemente and Alberto Nemo. Unlike many of Claudio's previous releases, the new one has nothing too much in common with the progressive rock of the 70s, which always was a strong Milano influence.

Just four pieces, 43 minutes long in common. Minimalist and liturgical atmosphere, dark and partially chamber. The opener "Frattura Iniziale" is Alberto Nemo's composition. Nemo began his career performing sacred music in chapels. Slow, dark, and minimalistic repetitive piano and Claudio's operatic voice together sound like church liturgy. Partially recalls Ran Blake's music. Beautiful song and the best on this album for my ears.

"Comparsa" opens with a dark and dreamy(gothic?) piano solo, and operatic Claudio vocals come soon after. Songs author and composer Niccolo Clemente adds vocals and electronics too. Claudio's vocals feel the space flying free. The same atmosphere of church liturgy and Gregorian chants continues.

"Dissolvenza", the longest album's composition, is more based on electronic effects sound. Claudio's vocal acrobatics pushes it towards a more leftfield zone. If the album's opener can be compared with chamber Ran Blake's works, "Dissolvenza" is closer to Diamanda Galas' music.

"Frattura Finale", the album's shortest piece, is written by Nemo again. Chamber piano, minimalist repetitive construction, and Claudio's emotional voice over it. The Mass is ended.

As always, Claudio adds a lot of philosophical themes and minds in lyrics (true, it's good to be fluent in Italian though). According to liner notes, the album was recorded somewhere in a gas station. Surprisingly enough, its acoustics recall more of a church space. Probably not an album for Claudio's prog rock side fans, "Frattura, Comparsa, Dissolvenza" shows his great alternative talent - an electro-acoustic minimalist chamber vocalist. Well done!

This time Claudio Milano releases a live album from a performance in a very unusual place, a gasoline station in a town close to Florence, together with two other vocalists and authors. They agreed to add this album to Claudio's discography on PA even if it's a sort of "split".

The first performer is Alberto Nemo who is also the pianist. "Frattura" (Fracture) is present at the beginning and at the end of the album, but the total time of the two parts together is inferior to those of the other two performers.

So let's start with "Frattura Iniziale (Initial Fracture). It's started by the piano. There's a lot of reverb, but I think it's just the acoustic of the venue. It doesnt sound like an electronic effect. Nemo's voice is strong and has some similarities with Claudio's voice. I must confess that I've had a doubt about who this singer is. Luckily the whole live performance is also on Youtube. Alberto Nemo sits at the piano dressed (or betteer, undressed) like a Sikh, and his vocals which I was struggling to understand are just vocalizations. It's a sort of fusion between Dhropal singing and Catholic chants. It may sound like a prayer, but the only intelligible word that I catch is "Matame" ("Kill me" in Spanish). The real meaning performance is well explained in the album's booklet (in Italian, sorry). I don't know whether an English version is available. In any case, the "vibrations" created by the voice and the piano can vehiculate the message, partially at least. My own consideration: being able to put the eastern and western souls together is a proof of the common roots of the Indoeuropeans. Traditional musics share their vibes from Ireland to Bangladesh.

Niccolo' Clemente, aka Whale, has a composing style similar to Claudio. This time his piano accompanies real lyrics. Not very easy also for an Italian. I interpret it as the appearance and disappearance of life on Earth. The mortal remains of an extinct mankind. The lyrics are not much long, but enough to make phylosophical references. In particular the sentence "Il Tempo ingoiato dalla tempesta dell'atomo" gives me the idea of an Universe totally indifferent toward us. It literally means "Time swallowed by the atom's storm" It's the alpha constant that changes its value and destroys matter and energy. Time remains but is no more useable. There are remains, but not the mankind. Very good instrumental piano coda follows.

It's now the turn of Claudio. Now there's electronic behind, An unusual loop is the base on which Claudio repeats four words several times before staring o use his voice as i knows: "Morte, Dissolvenza, Vita, Trasmissione" (Death, Fade, Life, Transmission). The multi-instrumentis and electronic maestro Teo Ravelli aka Borda creates very intriguing soundscapes also distorting the voice of Claudio, adding echoes and effects to the vocals. Listening carefully, it's like Claudio is singing acapella over an invisible (inaudible is better) chords progression. This atonal music may can be reconducted to a proper song...but why doing so? As usual the lyrics written by Claudio are harsh, row, intense and sometimes disturbing. And it ends with a catholic standard prayer before getting back to the initial four words, but with different interval, tonality and background toward the sudden end. Trying to interpret the poetry, I think there's a connection to "The Wall". Traumas and a consequent attempt to hide himself (I want to dive into an ocean of [&*!#]) until the decision to escape "With the voice of an angel I scream my interior void. I want to get out!". I see it like the desire of tearing down the wall. Of course it's just as I interpret it, I can be completely wrong. The key is more likely in the word Dissolvenza (Fade). Disappear, melt into small pieces of awareness in order to rebirth.

Finally, Nemo is back with his mixture of east and west backed by his piano. It's a reprise of the first track and an excellent conclusion of the performance that closes the circle. At this point we have experienced the wordless chant of the soul, the disappearance of the mankind into the void of existence, the death and the desperate desire of rebirth, to the return of the wordless voice of the soul.

Challenging but rewarding. It's a sort of journey to the abyss and back, in some ways similar to what Dante does in the Comedy's Inferno, which was the subject of the previous performance by Claudio Milano with "I Sincopatici".

Claudio Milano is perhaps the most unconventional and boundary pushing artist that I know of. And this attitude is from top to bottom. From the studio albums he is on, to those legendary live performances that are as much about the visual as they are the audio. To even the packaging that the music comes, which has been so unique at times. One of his recording I own has a literal string tied in a bow around the cd package. This most recent cd comes in a glossy, mini-magazine that is about 8 1/2 inches high and almost 6 inches wide. Some ten pages or so of lyrics and info all in Italian, plus pictures. The cd is held in a clear plastic sleeve attached to the inside back cover.

Like Claudio who is honest to his visions, I feel like I too have been honest with my opinions. Especially when free physical music has been sent to me for review. Not swayed in the least by that, and Claudio knows this, but still keeps them coming. I decline free downloads, as my whole reason for being on this site is to have a place for my opinions of My record collection. I have zero interest in throwing up reviews for music I don't physically own. Of the fourteen cds I own that Claudio's on I have given 6 three star reviews, 6 four stars reviews(including this one), and 2 five star reviews.

I have really fallen for this album. And talk about unconventional! We have three very classy, world class singers and a keyboardist playing a live gig at a gas station in Prato, Italy. A city of around 200,000 people, and the second largest city after Florence in Tuscany. In a gas station?! Unconventional right? Claudio Milano sings on the longest and by far most adventerous track on here called "Dissolvenza" at almost 19 minutes. Milano as usual provides an incredible performance that is as varied as the song is long. He puts on a show, and this is the only song featuring our fourth member Teo Ravelli, who can play drums with the best of them and is also known as Borda. He is also an electronics guy, and it's this song that instrumentally does something for me with those electronics. I love the sound of them as they come and go throughout. This is the track that prog fas will appreciate.

The other three tracks are quite sparse instrumentally, usually piano only. This really is a vocal album which usually isn't my thing, but it is here. We also have Niccolo Clemente on vocals singing on track two called "Comparsa". My least favourite but I still like it. He adds his own piano and synths to his vocals, and is somewhere between the adventerous Milano track, and the mellow Nemo songs.

Lets talk about Alberto Nemo. My first spin of this recording left me completely taken with Nemo's vocal style and tone. He clearly is a spiritual man, from the way he dresses to the music he performs. His songs open and close this album which just seems so appropriate, tying it all together. He sings in wordless melodies like some of those traditional middle eastern singers, or even like some of the singers from India. I had an Indian co- worker who always had his music cranked, and I always complimented it. I'm for some reason really drawn to this style of singing. Slow moving with Alberto emphasizing every syllable, and holding the notes. So impressed.

A very solid 4 stars for this special release that I'm so proud to own. Thanks Claudio!

The latest release featuring Claudio Milano finds him again working with electronic artist Borda (Teo Ravelli) plus two pianists/electronic artists, Niccolò Clemente and Alberto Nemo. In English, the title means 'Fracture/Appearance/Fade' and it is worth understanding the concept behind this, which is that it is a "musical and scenic action on a text by Niccolò Clemente aka Whale, which stands outside space and time, creating a world of its own, liturgical, cathartic, therapeutic, 'other'. It places conscious man at the centre of a sonic display without latitude or time (Western and Eastern modes, ancient and contemporary), without any pretence of clamour." Given there is also a statement that the value of history "has lost the value of spirituality and a consciousness of the Jungian archetype in order to overcome its own limit" we can also state this is not a 'normal' release. However, I firmly believe that anything involving Milano can never be considered "normal" given the way his vocals are so far removed from what we normally expect to hear.

I do not understand Italian, so have no idea what is going on with the lyrics (which even in a foreign language appear incredibly deep and complex), but that is sometimes I never worry about when listening to Milano as he is always way more than "just" a singer. He is a true experimentalist, using vocal gymnastics as he brings to bear many different classical styles from baroque through operatic to display a stunning range where he produces intense emotions just by the sound of his voice, going from growls through to falsetto with ease. It feels as if we are in a cathedral, with incredible echo, resonance, and passion as each instrumentalist allows Claudio to take centre stage and provides nuances and support when there is a need, but often all we hear are the vocals which take over everything. This is music which is to be played on headphones and will be admired as much into more classical forms of music as to those into progressive, but always with the knowledge that this is challenging and not for all, even if they enjoy those genres.

His vocals are an instrument, probably more so than any other singer I have come across, and as I keep saying, he is a true master of his craft, seemingly at home with every style and emotion he is asked to portray. Listening to him sing is an experience, something once heard will never be forgotten, and while this will certainly not be for everyone, for those who enjoy their music to be challenging then slap on the headphones and be prepared to be taken on an intense journey of pain and pleasure.

It is always a pleasure to listen to any music where Italian creative soul Claudio Milano is featured, because it means it will be a challenging and quite interesting journey, knowing his enthusiasm towards experimental music and arts.

Of course, this time is not an exception, and here, for this record entitled 'Frattura, Comparsa, Dissolvenza', Milano reunited with other 3 minds with no boundaries and of course, with a lot of talent: Niccolo "Whale" Clemente, Teo "Borda" Ravelli, and Alberto Nemo, who made and recorded a performance in 2023 held in a gas station, a not-so- conventional place for a gig. This album shares four tracks and a total time of 43 minutes led by colorful voices, piano and noises. Actually it would be valid if we talked about a split album, because each musicians / singer has their own piece,

It kicks-off with 'Frattura Iniziale', piano alone for a minute and then a voice appears, it is Alberto Nemo the mind behind it, he delivers an spiritual performance where a synergy between his piano and his profound voice embrace the atmosphere. Its rhythm is calm, delicate, and with its repetition I believe the aim is to connect to the listener's minds and souls. Don't expect a change or a explosive moment in this track, just let your spirit be guided by Nemo's charm.

The long tracks begin now with 'Comparsa', which marks the turn of "Whale" Clemente. He, just like Nemo, sits in front of his piano and uses his voice to deliver an experimental momentum, with a strong vocal color that nicely contrasts with the delicate piano notes. This time the journey might be a little bit challenging, with not an actual rhythm, we have to expect the unexcpected. Anyway, the music flows with and without pauses, inviting us to have a cathartic episode where we can close our eyes, take a deep breath and try to go deeper in our innerselves. At half the song there is a loop in the voice, sounding like a meditation or even a religious ceremony, so yeah, I believe it is easier to connect with it if we are involved in spiritual activities.

'Dissolvenza' is the longest track here, almost 19 minutes where the Milano (voice) / Borda (electronics) combo take over. Yeah, since the very first seconds the electronic elements appear and create tension, then Milano's experimental and colorful voice join with some repetitive phrases, and then, starts to play with his powerful vocal chords. The sound is quite different here from the first two performances, and as you can notice, closer to my tastes. This track is not plain at all, it has ups and downs, moments of tension, darker atmospheres, even a bit of craziness, so the couple are able to explore their limits and create with all the freedom they have as experimental artists, which is why we can find a rollercoaster of emotions, textures, passages, sounds. My favorite track here.

And the album finishes almost like it started, with Nemo performing 'Frattura Finale', working as a reprise of the opener.

Yeah, this is a work of high quality, with talented and enigmatic artists, however, I believe this record is not that easy to dig, or at least, I could not connect as I would have wished, but in the end, the experience and the journey is personal, so I hope people give this album a try.