DA NESSUN LUOGO

PENSIERO NOMADE's fifth album is the first one to feature vocals, but it's also otherwise more (art) rock oriented than the early albums with poetic, jazzy ambience. The leader and producer Salvo Lazzara (guitars, synth guitar, bass, programming) has written the lyrics and composed the songs with Andrea Pavoni, and the three instrumentals by himself. The line-up of six players plus Michela Botti on vocals is by far the largest in the band's history.

Personally, I clearly prefer the acoustically oriented, sensitive instrumental approach of albums such as Imperfetta Solitudine (and others that I'll review in time...), but probably many progheads would consider Da Nessun Luogo (= From Nowhere) as a major leap forward into a good direction. Indeed, there's already one 5-star rating. The atmosphere is rather dark-toned and slightly distracted. The sound contains a deep, roaring bass, some cool trumpet and lots of cold-hearted programming. There's some similarity with the colder tracks of the 90's PETER GABRIEL.

The female voice sounds pretty good per se, but because of the general mood, it is not there to add any warmth. In fact, the more central the vocals are, the more hostile the music gets. I wish I understood Italian to have a better access to the songs and the whole album... But before the vocals appear in the first place, there are two quite interesting instrumentals balanced between BRIAN ENO-ish ambient and hectic art rock. The third instrumental is 'L'Apparente allegria' which has a Crimsonesque, weird atmosphere. All in all, this album is too cold and alienated for my taste.

Pensiero Nomade is a relatively recent project, marshaled by former Germinale guitarist and composer Salvo Lazarra, a resident of the Eternal City of Rome, who decided in 2008 to forge a new path, certainly far removed from the conventional RPI School of prog. The accent here is on more experimental surfaces, infusing modern electronic soundscapes that would be closer to one of Fabio Zuffanti's many projects called Rohmer or even other more sonic acts that search to stretch the musical envelope. Another foremost attraction for me was the presence of Davide Guidoni, a masterful percussionist and drummer who has graced his craft on albums as diverse as Daal, Taproban, Gallant Farm, Nuova Era and many others. He is a fabulously creative musician who is at the top of his art and a total treat to follow. Add to that list , Greenwall's keyboardist Andrea Pavoni, as well as a slew of additional guests and you get a real solid package.

That being all said and stated for the record, this recording is not an easy walk in the park, no hint of simplistic or accessible fare that will have you humming as you walk the pooch. Quite the contrary, the major challenge here will be to follow the course set by the musicians and understand how the sounds affect each listener individually and collectively. There is a vast arsenal of electronic instruments that seem to form the foundational core of the material, making this a very modern, I daresay futuristic album. The day starts with the yawning cool rays of the Roman sun slowly permeating the ancient stones and its more recent concrete progeny, the solely coalescing jumble of people waking up and getting to work, becoming slightly hectic and rapidly, maddening like only the Italians can master. Davide's stunning stick work combines both percussion and thumping drum patterns, giving Salvo Lazarra all the rhythmic support he needs to infuse bass rumbles and churning guitar phrasings while keyboard men Pavoni and Fabio Anile hammer their insistent piano like some car horn gone berserk, the stretching synths gloriously heating up a blaze of sound and fury.

The tension remains constant ("A Tensione Costante") introduces Alessandro Toniolo's lavish flute into the mix, as the guitar smokes lustily forward, drum fills and constantly screeching tension amid the trumpets and the Midi horns. The overall feel is intense, very urban and quite chaotic. The citizens have arrived at their workplaces and offices, thus the daily toil begins, a human interface of greetings, shrugs and gossip while getting the espresso machine to ramp up production. Guidoni seems to be the only only holding the fort, as all the instruments play to their own bubble. It's quite amazing!

Farther and harder, ("Piu Lontano, Piu Forte") the mood now settles into a groove that focuses on the daily grind of creative thought and mindless execution, the predilection to detail and the obligations of the clock. Singer Michela Botti kicks in with unabashed passion, a passionate plea that resonates amid the bruising drum patterns and jungle-thick percussives. Luca Pietropaoli rampages wildly on his trumpet as the theme reaches a frenzy of enormous proportions.

Nothing, finally ("Niente, Finalmente") is really difficult for these effortless musicians as the mood veers into even more angular territories, lathered in dissonance and rinsed in oblique noises and sounds, only to be kept in line by Botti's recitative voice. The experimentation is laudable, creating an audio soundtrack of some absurd Fellini-esque production, burdened up with slick electronics that actually possess an organic sheen. Hypnotic and bizarre. The faraway trumpet blares some innocent supplication and suddenly, it all fades into silence.

Looking out from the corner of one's eye ("La Coda dell'occhio"), the mood becomes even more solemn, as splashy cymbals and decorative drum punctuation recall some semblance of control, while Botti's voice travels along some impractical road. Contrasting is a slick electric sizzle that is buried under the mix, like some grating chainsaw having a hard time slicing through mahogany. A move many a guitarist will applaud! Sounds like a guitar synth but I may be incorrect; whatever, it's brilliant!

From nowhere ("Da Nessun Luogo"), the imposing and impressive 13 minute+ title track then pierces the thick clouds, a ray of piano sunshine assaulting the Venetian blinds and permeating the inner sanctum. Master Guidoni lays down a heartbeat, corralled by a lush cymbal alliance and his 'famous gongs', egged on by Lazzara's scintillating touch guitar and an impenetrable electronic tropical forest of sounds. Highly investigatory and intrepid, the wretched piano maintains the melancholic pace, carrying the theme on a sonic road to nowhere. Michela Botti then offers 'private pain', a universe of thoughts, trepidation, memories and fears that need to be articulated, come hell or high water (as they say in Venice). Lost love, lost soul. The massive binary beat remains along for the ride, a barely beating historic song that survives the ages. Salvo then carves a noodling guitar solo that proves his talent once and for all to notice, sweetly oozing all the hurt of the universe.

The lost verse ("Il Verso che non Trovo") provides the platform for a vocal duet between Botti and Andrea Pavoni that will elevate the mood to unreal heights, especially the female voice that hits the loftiest registers with impunity. Heavily concussive drums, drizzling piano and intense electronics all combine to drive this beast forward, amid moving walls of synthesized orchestrations. Dense and tense.

None of us could have imagined what was smoldering beneath this happiness ("L'Apparente Allegria") chooses to , once again, enter uncharted territory, with overt wah-wah drenched electronic guitar licks to conduct the show, clanging shadows and urban noise, an attractive trumpet blare and a plethora of amazing aural trickeries that entice and seduce. Modern, odd, strange and yet very real.

Seeking out the deep-sunken eyes ("Cercalo in Fondo Agli Occhi") is the highly poetic finale of a troubled and tired soul, waiting for the day to end, ready for slumber and a return to daily routine tomorrow. The day is done, a lot was achieved and yet? Ringing acoustic guitars tuck the weary soul into the warm comfort of the bed, pillows as companions and dreams as entertainment.

Definitely a challenging listen that will require personal markers to guide through the maelstrom of ideas and sounds, a lush and luxuriant package that will undoubtedly continue to challenge the audiophile, even after multiple listens. Who says I like only the simple stuff?

4 Travelling thoughts

Pensiero Nomade is mainly the brainchild of Salvo Lazzara, a guitarist and composer from Pisa (although now based in Rome), former member of Germinale. The project took form in 2006 and the year after a debut album entitled Per questi e altri naufragi was released. This first work was followed by Tempi migliori (2009), Materia e Memoria (2011) and Imperfetta solitudine (2013), all blending in different doses - often with a strong minimalist approach - relaxing New Age atmospheres, ambient, jazz, a pinch of electronica and dreamy, ethereal guitar passages that every now and again could recall artists such as Riccardo Zappa or William Ackerman.

Da nessun luogo, the fifth Pensiero Nomade's studio album, was released in 2015 on the independent label Filibusta Records and features a richer sound and, for the first time, lyrics and vocal parts. For this work Salvo Lazzara gathered around him an excellent bunch of musicians who helped him to weave an intricate musical fabric full of nuances and delicate musical colours: in fact, along with Salvo Lazzara (9 strings touch guitar, electric guitar, synth guitar, bass, arrangements and programming) the line up features precious collaborators such as Fabio Anile (piano, synth, electronics), Michela Botti (vocals), Davide Guidoni (drums, percussions, gongs - from Taproban, Nuova Era, Daal), Andrea Pavoni (piano, synth, bass, guitar, vocals, arrangements and programming - from Greenwall and Inner Prospekt), Luca Pietropaoli (trumpet, electronics) and another former Germinale member, Alessandro Toniolo (flute, midi horns). According to an interview with Salvo Lazzara, this work is a concept album that tells in music and words of a deep sense of loss, a crises that you can overcome only by looking for the true sense of life in the reality that surrounds you...

The instrumental opener "Dove comincia il giorno" (Where the day begins) sets the atmosphere by taking you on an ethereal trip, at dawn... A slow train is breaking through the mist and you can smell exotic flavours and let your mind fly... The following "A tensione costante" (At constant tension) is another instrumental track. Here the rhythm slackens, the mood becomes darker, you can feel that something is going to happen...

On "Più lontano, più forte" (Farther, harder) we can hear for the first time the voice of Michela Botti as the music and lyrics evoke a sudden change of direction in the curve of time. Now everything flows and floats around you, old memories come back as your heart is beating harder than ever... Then "Niente, finalmente" (Nothing, finally) brings a sense of unreal peace. You can perceive a step of dance not far from you, a different rhythm makes you forget for a while painful regrets and dark memories while the promise of oblivion begins to shine through the clouds of a rainy day...

The melancholic "La coda dell'occhio" (The sidelong glance) breaks the illusion by evoking another regret while the shadows of other people look like foam of lost waves, distant echoes of broken dreams... Then it's the time of the long title track, "Da nessun luogo" (From nowhere), that begins softly and takes you on the merciless rhythm of Time through infinite labyrinths and games of mirrors. Here the music and lyrics tell of days spent without hope and without hurry, days lost in the daily grind between private pains and ephemeral joys, days you dropped out like the pearls of a broken necklace, shaped by the warm hands of new desires and by the cold embraces of loneliness and emptiness... A long solitary journey lightened every now and again by an imagined love...

The poetical "Il verso che non trovo" (The verse I can't find) marks a new start taking you on the border of a new dawn. You realize that a whole world is slowly moving around you, on the horizon you can see the landmarks of a city that's still asleep and that soon will wake up like an enormous octopus trying to draw you with its tentacles towards a new challenge... Male and female vocals here conjure up almost a sense of desperate hysteria as you look for something that you can't grasp...

The jazzy, surreal instrumental "L'apparente allegria" (The apparent cheerfulness) leads to the beautiful closer "Cercalo in fondo agli occhi" (Look for it straight in the eye) where the soaring vocals of Michela Botti urge you to catch the day... There's still time for dreaming, do not sleep! "Look back and look at me / I'm nothing but a hidden shadow / But I can still talk to you / Of what I know / Of what you can't still understand...".

On the whole, I think that this is a very good album, full of nuances and poetical lyrics. It probably needs more spins to be fully appreciated but at last I'm sure you'll be rewarded.

Based in Rome, Pensiero Nomade is a project for Italian guitarist/composer Salvatore Lazzara and his rotating collaborating assortment of musicians that formed in 2006, releasing several works in a frequently minimalist New-Age/ambient and light jazz instrumental style since then. Boasting a new line-up that includes members of notable modern Italian groups such as Taproban, DAAL and Inner Prospekt among others, 2015's `Da Nessun Luogo' maintains those above-mentioned qualities whilst adding a constant challenging experimentation, intelligent song-writing and even frequent female Italian-language vocals from Greenwall singer Michela Botti, yet their music still retains the evocative atmospheres of the previous works, just given a darker shade and more heavy attention to mood.

Two instrumental pieces open the album, `Dove Comincia Il Giorno' a breeze of pin-drop piano, careful percussion and reaching low-key ethereal guitar strains that eventually burst to electric life, and, despite starting as a shimmering faraway meditation of wafting flute, `A Tensione Costa' drifts into distorted electronics bristling with jazz-flecked danger that could have passed for a `Signify'-era Porcupine Tree improvisation. `Piu' Lontano, Piu' Forte' is a storm of droning female voices over heavy guitars and groaning sax with nightmarish clanging piano smashing away in the background, Michela rants an increasingly urgent and forceful vocal throughout the mysterious `Niente, Finalmente's alongside frantic but low-key synth runs, and `La Coda Dell'occhio' blends hypnotic shifting guitar noise with ethereal faraway siren calls laced with a hint of danger, Michela almost reminding of Renate Knaup of Amon Duul 2!

The band then unleash their most ambitious composition `Da Nessun Luogo', running close to fourteen minutes, and there's something deliciously ever-so-slightly `off' about the shadows emerging from the piece. Almost the entire first half is based around a hypnotic, carefully building improvisation that is equal parts King Crimson, early Pink Floyd and Porcupine Tree, gently peppered with jazz flavours. Moody acoustic guitar and creeping piano wrap around Michela's ravishing vocal that jumps between restrained and intense, all of these together taking the disc in a more theatrical direction before the piece ends on orchestral-flavoured victorious synths. `Il Verso Che Non Trovo' has both male and female vocals with sighing warm backing harmonies, elegant orchestral bursts helping the piece soar with power, `L'Appaente Allegria' brings a surprising krautrock and acid-rock vibe with its shimmering electric guitars, hazy electronics and lethargic trumpet drones, and album closer `Cercalo In Fondo Agli Occhi' provides a finale that perfectly balances melancholy with gentle hope.

Some original fans of the earlier albums of Pensiero Nomade may find the move in a frequently song-based direction a little unexpected, but it's actually given this group a strong new identity without sacrificing the thoughtful qualities that have always been present in their music. `Da Nessun Luogo' has absolutely added a greater depth, constantly present intensity and darker drama with a creeping unease, yet never becomes overwhelmingly bleak or without crucial traces of light and heart, and the more challenging and involved music here begs to be constantly replayed. Salvatore Lazzara and his musical friends should hold their heads high with pride for their sterling effort here, and the seeds sown on this one should make their next album very fascinating!

Four stars for a sumptuous disc.