TRA LUCE E OMBRA

After really enjoying their debut self-titled 2019 release, I am overjoyed to receive this sophomore offering straight from Vannuccio Zanella of MP Records, as I had listened to the trailer and was deeply intrigued. The band originates from lovely Lecce, situated in the heel of the Italian boot and they have been around for more than a decade, honing their craft until their first album came out, with promises of more to come. Strongly influenced by the classic RPI school with an added harder, more contemporary tone, they are a most welcome addition to the modern succession of Italian prog bands. Keyboardist, multi-instrumentalist, and lead vocalist Francesco Carella is flanked by his colleague Giuseppe Quarta on the drums, with a couple of guest lead guitarists, as well as (surprise, surprise) none other than Richard Sinclair of Camel, Caravan, and many other Canterbury prog groups, providing his unique talent on bass and vocals on the track "Poker". Violin and sax complete the line-up. The album is short and sweet at 39 minutes, but it packs quite the sonic punch.

Straight dive into Dante's Inferno we go with "Migrazioni", a 7-minute initial proposal that takes no prisoners, a sizzling electronic slash with a throttling bass synth and a robotic beat that instantly seduces with its no holds barred hypnotism, as Carella swirls his keyboards like a nuclear blender gone mad. The various transitions fit perfectly in the dynamic of the arrangement, offering endless adventure and 'buon gusto'. Quarta's drum kit shows no restraint at all, as the pace needs strong athletic propulsion which he supplies in gargantuan amounts. A thrilling instrumental journey worthy of Cristofero Colombo, braving the unknown seas, courageously fording forward. No slowing down this crew, as the ripping "Frequenze Solari" introduces some outrageous vocals with lilting narration, shoved forward not too distant from classic Heep or Purple, bruising organ front and center, a Marco Ancona guitar riff and solo, and all held together with some beefy percussives. An unexpected Roberto Gagliardi saxophone solo adds some sensual warmth as the piece fades into the sun. The stunning electric piano makes a jazzy entrance on "Poker", not surprising to find Sinclair here on the vocals as well as some wicked fretless bass excursions that remind us of what a great icon he remains in his golden years. As the arrangement slips into a manic groove, well anchored by the supple drumming, the charm takes effect, sunny, bright, playful yet intense, just what one would expect from the Italian deep south. The "doo-wap" scat duet is to applaud with unmitigated vigor, as its uniquely interesting. Boy is that fretless delicious though! Heading way north into the Big Apple, the stark urban hum of the organ fences with the vibraphone touch, as "Bronx" evokes the sense of being alone in a densely packed humanity, the gravely voiced narration reeks of fatigue and desperation, corner after corner, the same routine. Lost amid the sirens, with a sudden transition into a rambling aural monolith, the track takes a more vivid direction, capturing the cacophony of a cosmopolis, and the debilitating confusion that goes with the price of living in a massive cage. Definitely a highlight as well as being the epic offering here, "L'Ultima Battaglia" has more medieval overtone, as if describing some historical Middle Ages skirmish, the entire Carella keyboard arsenal is set loose like armoured knights galloping into the fray. The military drums are as binary fisted as it gets, the artillery needed for victory. The ebb and flow of the melee is expertly portrayed in the mid-section, with a Goblin-esque feel, a palpitating soundtrack to a life and death combat, with controlled hand to hand chants and organ swells. A tremendous piece of music. The binary tick-tock on the riveting "Androgino" has all the ingredients to amaze, a highly electronic feel with remorseless beats, as well as grandiloquent synthesizer orchestrations, while the soothing voice sings about obscurity and mysteries of life. Numbingly evocative and beautiful. Bowie, Bolan and Boy George. The snappy "Road Roller" serves as a wake-up call, as it initially slams the pedals hard, with screeching vocals, furious guitars and chaotic thump sections, more police sirens, or is it an ambulance? Yells of "don't touch me" finish off the frustrations. A narrated finale, "Nostalgie" behaves like a jazzy musical poem, the dazzling e-piano firmly entrenched, the sultry violin of Francesco del Prete doing his Carmen thingy with gypsy-like cat meows, the bass hard and nasty, the drum beat muscular.

Over the span of 50 years listening to almost exclusively progressive rock, I can't help noticing that Italy, as befits the ultimate iconoclasts that they are so proud to be, seem to supply quality prog in lengthy, luscious waves, and consistently so, with occasional long spells of relative silence. Lately, it's been very hectic indeed, with tons of amazing music from the "bel paese" and we are "moltissimi contenti".

5 Light shadows

Italian band lead by imaginative keyboard master Francesco Carella and his faithful side-kick, drummer Giuseppe Quarta.

1. "Migrazioni" (6:59) an oddly-engineered (or is it just a collection of odd instrumental sound choices?) song that feels so straightforward with its themes "borrowed" that it feels stagnant and inert. (13.125/15)

2. "Frequenze Solari" (3:44) old blues rock--like "La Grange." Well performed though it sounds like a live stage performance in a small club. (8.5/10)

3. "Poker" (5:08) sedate blues rock with some interesting multi-voice vocalise interplay over the Fender Rhodes piano and rock instrumentation. At 1:29 the song switches direction and style, cruising down a road out into the countryside as synth and vocalise steal the show up front. Special guest, bassist and vocalist Richard Sinclair being Richard Sinclair (even in his 70s!). Back to the blues rock theme for the final minute. (8.6667/10)

4. "Bronx" (4:57) more blues rock forms with a cinematic 1960s detective noir bent and some excellently weird instrumental sound choices. Unfortunately, it loses me in the fourth minute when it goes RPI lite. A top three song. (8.75/10)

5. "L'ultima Battaglia" (7:30) organ and droning hum and military drumming support an interesting SEVEN REIZH-like vocal opening. But then, in the second minute, it morphs into a simple mosaic to support a Wurlitzer-sounding keyboard and saw-synth weave. Franco's wordless vocals mix into the weave in the fifth minute as the organ solos. Interesting. At the five minute mark it's like a switch is thrown and the music goes into celebratory march mode. Well-composed but under-developed and a bit too filled with predictable/expected musical clichés. Still, a top three. (13.125/15)

6. "Androgino" (5:18) simple PINK FLOYD-like "Shine On You Crazy Diamond Parts V1-IX" soundscape with some laid back vocals over the top. Nice chorus section. Interesting; inoffensive, but irritating for its "stolen"/overly familiar foundation. (8.6667/10)

7. "Road Roller" (3:04) A raucous, chaotic 60s rock opening turns into a smoky bar room blues tune. Again, the band is obviously going for a cinematic soundtrack feel. (8.6667/10)

8. "Nostalgie" (3:17) with film noir narration to open this one, the Fender Rhodes and violin interplay is actually quite interesting and pleasing. I'll give Francesco credit: he is a very smooth and creative keyboard player. The presence of a skilled violinist casts aspersions on the rest of his instrumental support: it's just too simplistic and vanilla. (8.66667/10)

Total Time 39:57

A very nice album of run-of-the-mill prog--even if it does occasionally sound like soulless prog-by-the-numbers with electronically-created music. Leader and composer-keyboard wizard Francesco Carella puts together a fine package but there's so much more that could have been developed and polished.

C+/3.5 stars; a nice addition of keyboard-oriented retro blues-prog to most prog lover's music collection--especially if you're into the blues-rock of the late 1960s.

"Tra luce e ombra" (Between light and shadow) is the second album by Salentine band I Viaggi di Madeleine and was released in 2023 on the MP Records label with a line up featuring Francesco Carella (vocals, keyboards, synth bass, piano Rhodes, acoustic guitar) and Giuseppe Quarta (drums) plus the guests Marco Ancona (electric guitar), Francesco Del Prete (violin), Roberto Gagliardi (sax), Pietro Sansonetti (electric guitar), Richard Sinclair (vocals, bass) and Santi Spanna (narrative vocals). It confirms all the good qualities of their debut work with a sound drawing from seventies influences and a personal, strong emotional touch. The original art cover chosen to convey the idea of the musical content of this work was provided by OndemediE graphic studio...

The excellent opener "Migrazioni" (Migrations) is an instrumental piece that, according to the liner notes, depicts the perpetual motion of the universe. The pulsing rhythm and the hypnotic keyboards waves try to evoke migrations of people and animals, the continuous movement of waters, winds and earth, the changing of the seasons and the migration of souls and other spiritual forces from one form of life to another...

"Frequenze solari" (Solar frequencies) is a lively celebration of the power of sunlight that mixes blues with tarantella and every now and again could recall PFM. The music and lyrics conjure up a lay prayer, an invocation to the light and a kind a sun dance that makes you take off and fly on solar frequencies...

"Poker" is another good piece where wordless vocals duet and interact with the other instruments in a funny, swinging way. This piece features the contribute of the guest Richard Sinclair, former bassist and vocalist of bands such as Caravan and Hatfield And The North, who now lives in Martina Franca, Apulia...

Then the nightmarish "Bronx" describes in music and words the feelings of anguish and fear that experiences a man walking in the middle of the night in the streets of a dangerous neighbourhood. He goes on corner after corner, block after block, as if he were crossing rivers of rubbish and mud while crazy jackals chase after him in a world gone wrong where greediness, vanity and madness reign...

"L'ultima battaglia" (The last battle) is an epic instrumental track that, according to the liner notes, depicts the different stages of a timeless battle: the ritual before the clash between the two opposite armies, the attack, the battlefield scattered with the corpses of dead soldiers, the charge of the knights and a final ambush...

The slow, mysterious "Androgino" (Androgynous) evokes in music and words an undefined presence breaking through the veil of moral sense, crossing the limit between male and female, a joyful and coloured fantasy carried towards other worlds in the darkness, a suffering entity shaken by a storm of different forces. A blurred image of free love that comes to life from the pure desire of its own existence...

"Road Roller" is an instrumental track that, according to the liner notes, tries to tell in notes the story of a big, strong man called Road Roller who falls in love with a young, beautiful stranger he met at the fish market. The girl rejects him but he does not give up and tries to impress her by training hard in a gym. Eventually he dies for an overdose of anabolic substances...

Then "Nostalgie" (Nostalgias) closes the album: it's a beautiful piece with the violin in the forefront that conjures up distant memories, childhood dreams, short moments of joy and vain hopes haunting the nights of an old man. According to the liner notes, this piece was inspired by the "Hymns to the Night", a set of six poems written by the German Romantic poet Novalis...

On the whole, an excellent work that deserves a try!