ACROSS THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA

 Jemma is a collective of musicians from Velletri, a town near Rome, whose roots date back to 2017 when, on the initiative of Federico Buccini, they began to jam together inspired by jazz, Mediterranean folk, funk and progressive rock. After a good live activity, in 2023 they released an interesting eponymous album on the independent Emme Record label with a line up featuring Federico Buccini (keyboards, piano, guitar), Sofia Ara (flute, sax, vocals), Agnese Antonelli (violin, vocals), Ludovico Franco (trumpet, flugelhorn), Daniel Ventura (sax, flute - from VEMM), Alessandro Recanati (electric guitar), Marco Bruno (bass), Shanti Colucci (drums - from Ingranaggi della Valle and VEMM), Guglielmo Molino (bass), Davide Fabrizio (drums) and Rosario Ceraudo (percussion) plus the guest Gianluca Petrella (trombone). According to the band, it’s a concept album about the sea and the culture of the sea where original compositions alternate with traditional folk songs re-elaborated with a jazz rock modern taste in the vein of bands such as Perigeo, Agorà, Snarky Puppy or Weather Report: Jemma speaks of earth, sea, wind through intimate, tribal, rock, groove and ethnic atmospheres seasoned with an overflowing energy. It is a “crossover” work where jazz, world, rock, funk blend naturally into an original and innovative sound, a mix of identities, a crossroads of styles and souls. For the lyrics, the band chose languages and dialects from the Mediterranean sea like Italian, Portolotto, Salentine Grecanic or Ancient Greek but the focus of this project is more on the music than on the lyrics...

 

The beautiful opening piece, “Timelapse”, is completely instrumental and is paradigmatic of the musical direction followed by the band. It ranges in different musical territories with continuous changes of rhythm and atmosphere. Maybe, it’s not by chance that the title refers to a photographic technique in which the frequency at which film frames are captured is much lower than the frequency used to view the sequence. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus lapse...

“Kaneloriza” is a famous traditional song from Asia Minor, in the past interpreted, among others, by Domna Samiou, a prominent Greek researcher and performer of Greek folk music, or Nana Mouskouri. This version blends Rebetiko music style and jazz. The song evokes the dangerous charm of a beautiful cinnamon girl...

 

From the east shores of the Mediterranean Sea then we sail to the western coasts, towards Spain. “Hija mia mi querida” is a piece that comes from the Sephardic tradition and shows us an example of a poetic and musical genre developed in the Iberian Peninsula since the Middle Age. Although it starts by an acoustic pattern and ethnic flavours, there is no room for flamenco sketches here and soon the music veers into a different direction with a great electric guitar solo...

“Love Road Song” begins softly and the atmosphere is dreamy, with piano trumpet and violin in the forefront. Then the rhythm rises, the pace takes speed and you’re off on the road, ready to new musical adventures, like Pytheas of Massalia, a Greek geographer, explorer and astronomer who made a voyage of exploration to Northern Europe in about 325 BC. He was the first known Greek scientific visitor to see and describe the Arctic, polar ice, and the Celtic and Germanic tribes. He is also the first person on record to describe the midnight sun. Pytheas introduced the idea of distant Thule to the geographic imagination, and his account of the tides is the earliest one known that suggests the moon as their cause...

I spent all the previous words about Pytheas to introduce the following track, “I Iriden Så”, an old Swedish folk song full of pagan symbolism. From the Mediterranean Sea to North Europe and snowy landscapes. An Italian band singing in Swedish? To appreciate Jemma’s work I invite you to compare this piece with the version of the same song by prog folk Finnish band Gjallarhorn in their 1998 album Ranarop - Call Of The Sea Witch...

 

“Ossi di sabbia” (Sand bones) is a beautiful original piece sung in part in Italian and in part in an ancient dialect called Portolotto that was spoken in all the ports of the Adriatic sea because it was the “lingua franca” of the navy. It was derived from the Venetian language and was almost incomprehensible to most of the people on land. According to the band, “it tells the story of the journey of human beings across the sea, a fabric that connects lands and cultures. To pay even more homage to its meaning we wanted to write the lyrics in Portolotto, a language used by sailors of the Mediterranean. The sand bones are the mineralization of human stories, adventures, difficulties and everything that the sea and the wind can tell about our lives”...

“Winding Way” is an original instrumental track that features the guest Gianluca Petrella on trombone. It takes us with a light pace through jazz rock territories and leads to the final piece, “Nenia Grika” a delicate lullaby that ends the album leaving us amidst dreamy atmospheres in a pleasant sense of peace with a coda in crescendo that might recall PFM...

On the whole, a very good work!

You can listen to the complete album HERE

More info: 

https://www.facebook.com/JEMMA.crew.official/

MUSEUM OF MEMORIES

Dei ricordi, un museo is the first solo album by Stefano Lupo Galifi, historic vocalist of Museo Rosenbach, and was released in 2021 on the independent AMS Records label with a line up featuring along with Stefano Lupo Galifi (vocals) also Luca Scherani (piano, organ, keyboards, flute), Marcella Arganese (guitars), Gabriele Guidi Colombi (bass) and Folco Fedele (drums) plus Alessio Calandriello and Irene Spina (backing vocals). Rather than a solo album, in this case it would be more correct to speak of a team effort involving numerous musicians from the current Italian prog scene who are also members of bands like La Maschera di Cera, La Coscienza di Zeno, Il Tempio delle Clessidre, Ubi Maior or Panther & C.. In particular, Luca Scherani and Gabriele Guidi Colombi have tailor-made for the singer’s voice music and lyrics suited to his exuberant vocality, perfectly in line with his musical history. Marcella Arganese contributed to the composition of the title track and took charge of the beautiful art work of the cover and booklet, inspired by the content of the lyrics...

 

The opener “Cuore (Dei ricordi, un museo parte 1)” (Heart - Of memories, a museum Part 1) sets the atmosphere. It starts by a dreamy piano passage, then the music and words evoke the image of a homeless, a man whose house is a bench in the park. The yellow lights of the city feed the silent and thick mud that covers his past. Then, suddenly, appears the image of a lent helping hand and of emotional doors that are opened by a good heartened person. There’s a strong sense of empathy, questions about family and identity and the figure of a forgotten son who reappears from the past...

The hermetic “La morale cede” (Morals give way) evoke a crimson wire from which pain and time are hanging. There’s the image of a running man on a golden beach, but at the end of his path there is nothing but pain. Then comes the image of a woman who walks with a heavy pace on her lost soul. Male and female are just two arrogant halves, coherent with their desires but far from each other. And morals give way...

“La stanza e l’angolo” (The room and the corner) is a melancholic, disquieting track that deals with the fear of the unknown and the need for a shelter from the outside world. On the delicate piano pattern, heartfelt vocals tell of a man scared by someone who’s knocking at his door. He stands still, silent and motionless, then he retreats in a corner of his room with his hands on his face. He waits for the unexpected knocking noise to fade out...

The beautiful title track, “Dei ricordi, un museo (parte 2)” (Of memories, a museum Part 2), is a long, complex piece that describes a man walking in the wood, in a light rain. His hands sink into the sand and the feeling of the sand falling through his hands brings back memories of old childhood games. Then he comes out of the wood and pushes open an creacking red gate. A driveway leads to an old empty house. A quivering rainbow feather flies around him and its flight opens the way to memory. A relentless wave of memories overwhelms him. Soon, the flow of memories turns into a museum...

“Le due linee gemelle” (The two twin lines) is another hermetic, dreamy piece that portrays in music and words a charismatic artist suspended between past and future. Voice and silence for the show are like the hidden depth of two twin lines. An idea of courage and the unawareness of maturity stem from an unsolved, enigmatic past and an unknown future...

 

Stefano Lupo Galifi, 2019

 

“Sterile” (Sterile) starts by a beautiful acoustic guitar arpeggio and the vocals in the forefront. It’s a wonderful piece that depicts a winter landscape and evokes an atmosphere of decadent resignation. The pungent smell of burnt wood and ash fills the air as a freezing breeze crystallizes the thoughts. In the morning the protagonist wanders aimlessly in the forest with the heavy burden of his existence weighing on him, reacting like a hunted deer whose blood stains the ground, unconsciously helpless. That blood is so similar to ash, black dust under the protagonist’s feet. Then he searches for a way out of the labyrinth of the forest. Eventually, around him he can hear the noises of the industrialized world that soothe his pain in a sterile wait...

The final piece, “L’amante” (Dei ricordi, un museo parte 3), begins softly and evolves into a sensual crescendo. Music and words try to describe a controversial and morbid relationship that charms and upsets the protagonist. Dragged into a spiral in which senses and reason are lost, overwhelmed by the spells of his mistress, the protagonist is subject to dangerous emotional storms. Storms overflowing with a desire from which he tries to escape with mixed success...

On the whole, a perfect exercise of style and a real treat for Italianprog lovers.

You can listen to the complete album HERE

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/p/Stefano-Lupo-Galifi-100053956041943/ 

HOMELESS AND PROPHETS

Via Modesta Valenti is a progressive rock band based in Rome that took form in 2017 inspired by the likes of Genesis, Yes or Pink Floyd with a line up featuring Matteo Zanuzzi (vocals and lyrics), Adriano Sabatucci (acoustic and electric guitar), Francesco Mongatti (piano, keyboards), Gianmarco Palma (electric bass) and Luca Santi (drums). The name of the band refers to a homeless woman who, in 1983, died in poverty and in the cold of Rome Termini station, arousing much indignation for her state to the point of becoming a symbol, a kind of secular saint to whom the homeless people of the Italian capital turn. In 2002 the Municipality of Rome named in her memory a fictitious street where the homeless can apply for residency registration, via Modesta Valenti.

 

 In 2024 the band self released a debut EP, entitled Suite For The Last Prophet, containing just a long piece divided into twelve short sections for a total length of twenty-three minutes. It tells in music and words a surreal story, a kind of psychedelic dream where the band showcase their instrumental skills and a strong sense of humour. To be honest, in my opinion vocals and lyrics are not the strength of this work but the music is good and worth listening to, a nice patchwork of different styles and atmospheres stitched together with passionate coherence even if following a plot a bit confused...

 

Via Modesta Valenti, 2024

The suite begins by a piano solo introduction. Then the vocals on a marching beat evoke the image of a boy who enters in a public library and asks for a book about the human common denominator (“The Eternal Story”). The librarian gives him a copy of the Quran and while reading it the boy falls asleep and begins to dream. In fact, the following section tells of a crazy journey on camel back through the Arabic Desert (“Desert Trip”). When the boy arrives in La Mecca he can hear the voices and noises of the bazaar in a foreign language (here the lyrics turn from English to Italian) (“Bazar Blues”). Then the protagonist enters in a Turkish bath and the dream gets more and more blurred (“Jazzy Smoky Snake”) going on between mystical ravings about gods and prophets (“Pristine soul”), tempting and deviously enchanting women (“Barbara”), pseudo-scientific digressions (“Origins”), delirious political rantings about a borderless and endless world (“Silk And Mohair”), mysticism trapped into the unconscious (“The Final Fork”) and geometrical transcendentalism (“In The Mist Of Tempo Changes: Trying To Connect Two Dots”). Then it’s time to wake up, the protagonist is back in the library, in a world where you can find the words of God in the bookshops for sale (“La Mecca Conquest”). A short instrumental section (“A.C.U.C. Almost Completely Useless Coda”) ends the suite...

 

On the whole, a nice work that deserves a try.

You can listen to the complete EP HERE

More info:
https://www.facebook.com/p/Via-Modesta-Valenti-61556383730618/

MOMENTS OF TRANSITION

Merging Cluster took form in Florence in 2010 on the initiative of two former members of Biofonia, Gabriele Marconcini and Emiliano Galli, both in love with modern prog and psychedelia. In 2014 the band managed to release a self produced demo EP with a line up featuring Gabriele Marconcini (vocals), Emiliano Galli (keyboards), Marco Casalini (drums), Gianfilippo Innocenti (guitars) and Roberto Manzani (bass). Then the project went through a long period of hibernation. Ten years after, with the same line up, Merging Cluster woke up and finally released their first official studio album, entitled Peak Of ephemeral Light, on the independent Lizard Records label. It contains the four tracks of the demo EP remixed and remastered and four brand new pieces. According to an interview with the band, it is not a concept album in which a story is told but there are some recurring themes in the various pieces. All of them, in one way or another, tell of the moments of transition that make a person different from what he was before, or from what he believed or hoped he could be... 

 

The opener “Dysrationalia” every now and again could recall Marillion and is a long piece about the difficulty of thinking and behaving rationally when faced with even the most banal facts of life. The music and lyrics invite you to keep your eyes and mind open and vigil so as not to become prisoners of your emotions or victims of the conformism...

The title track, “Peak Of Ephemeral Light”, comes from the old EP. It’s a nice spacey piece that tells about the awareness that a man is nothing if compared to the immensity of the universe. The course of the galaxies in their race to the unknown can’t be reversed and a human being is not immortal, he’s just a kind of peak of energy soon destined to vanish into the void...

“Subjective Doubles Syndrome” is another old track from the 2014 EP. The atmosphere is disquieting and tense as the lyrics describe the feelings of a man on the brim of madness who believes that there’s someone going around with his body and face, someone who is speaking with his voice. In fact, the title refers to a rare delusional misidentification syndrome in which the patient experiences the delusion that he has a double with the same appearance, but usually with different character traits, that is leading a life of its own... 

 

From the 2014 EP is also the introspective, visionary “Gift Undeserved” that begins softly with guitar and bass that could recall Pink Floyd as the music and lyrics take you through fantastic landscapes. According to an interview with Gabriele Marconcini in the magazine Prog Italia, this piece describes states of consciousness suspended between dream and reality and how we do not feel adequate or deserving of what is given to us by chance or by superior forces...

The last track from the 2014 Ep is the beautiful “The Shadow Line”. It was inspired by a novella of the same name by Joseph Conrad that depicts a young man becoming an adult, in particular a young man who boards a ship for the voyage of his life. He will become a captain and the shadow line of the title represents the threshold of this development. The tide is turning, the sea and the sky are changing while the protagonist approaches the line, his eyes are burning. Will his heart keep on pounding when he’ll cross that line? Here the lyrics tell of the moment of transition between two phases of life...

“Planning The Renaissance” is a piece full of positive energy that kicks off with a hard electric guitar riff supported by the hammering rhythm section. It is an urgent request for change in individual and collective consciousness. The vocals express anger and indignation screaming the vital need for a new resolution. How can we plan a rebirth? We should find a way to learn how to create a new light, a new heart and find a new way of living in harmony with mother nature...

 

Merging Cluster 2022

“Land Of The Wait” opens by a delicate piano intro, then the vocals evoke blind days that pass, one the same as the other, leaving behind empty promises and regrets. The atmosphere is melancholic, but then the perspective changes and old memories of seasons full of expectations come to the surface. In fact, this piece tells of the reality that clashes with expectations destined to never materialize and was inspired by another seminal novel, The Tartar Steppe by Dino Buzzati. The novel tells the story of a young officer, Giovanni Drogo, who spent all his life guarding the Bastiani Fortress, a remote stronghold overlooking a desolate desert. He waits for a war in which to obtain power and glory, but the enemy hordes never arrive...

The final track, “Over (You)”, is dark and hypnotic. According to the band the lyrics are hermetic and esoteric but always focused on the experience of the passage. Sometimes we feel a strong sense of loss. Sometimes we lose our battles, sometimes our wars, sometimes we lose our body, sometimes our mind and identity. Then there comes a time when we feel that our future is over and we need a serpent kiss...

On the whole, a good work that deserves a try.

 

You can listen to the complete album HERE

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/mergingcluster 

FOLLOWING THE BRIGHTEST STAR

Limite Acque Sicure came to life in Ferrara in 2005 on the initiative of Andrea Chendi and Antonello Giovannelli, initially just with the aim of playing covers of historic prog bands from the seventies. After some personnel changes and many years of live activity on the local scene, in 2022 the band released on the independent Minotauro Records label a very interesting eponymous debut work featuring their own compositions in vintage style (and one cover) with a line up featuring Andrea Chendi (vocals) and Antonello Giovannelli (piano, synth, organ) along with Ambra Bianchi (vocals, flute, harp, percussion), Francesco Gigante (bass), Paolo Bolognesi (drums) and Luca Trabanelli (guitars). According to the band, it’s a concept album sui generis where all the tracks follow in some way a common thread: the eternal challenge with the unknown. The art cover gives a clue of the content...

 

The long, complex opener “Sogno d’oriente” (Oriental dream) begins softly but soon heavy electric guitar riffs break the dreamy atmosphere. In fact, the dreams evoked here by the music and lyrics are not those of the folktales narrated by Scheherazade in the One Thousand and One Nights but those of people who try to escape from wars, famine and adversities. Looking for a better place and a better future, some of them walk for miles and miles, crossing borders and rivers while others embark on ships in very bad conditions defying storms and raging waves. Often their hopes collide with reality and what they find at the end of their efforts is just another miserable place, if not death...

The introspective “Terra straniera” (Foreign land) begins by a piano solo passage, the atmosphere is tense and melancholic. The music and words tell of the sense of alienation felt by a person who is cut off from the society around him and feels like a stranger in his own land. What he has to do to overcome his blue mood is to be positive and follow the brightest star in the sky...

A pulsing rhythm introduces the following “Il respiro dell’anima” (The breath of soul), a piece about the mystery of birth, life and death. It depicts a kind of mystical journey that begins from the relationship between a mother and her child and continues until maturity and awareness. All in all, we are nothing but blood and matter in search of the soul...

 

“Antico mare” (Ancient sea) begins by the sound of the waves. The atmosphere is relaxed and dreamy. The music and lyrics evoke ancient civilizations and forgotten gods, battles and legends, bold warriors and beautiful women, mighty walls and talking masks, philosophers and poets. The shores of the Mediterranean Sea are full of the signs of a glorious past that still lives in our memories and the hope is that in the future the waves of this sea will bring more beauty and less wars...

“Fiamme intorno” (Flames around) is a complex piece about time passing by, regrets and hopes. It begins with a tense atmosphere while the music and lyrics describe a poet who feels that time is standing still. He can’t find the words to express himself, he has no more ideals to fight for. Around him there are ghosts that dance like flames, the time that has passed can not return and the rivers where words once flowed are now dry and full of the dust of the past. Then the tension eases, resignation and bewilderment give way to new energies that fill the inner void of the protagonist. As the artist accepts to live in harmony with his new reality the inspiration comes back... According to the liner notes, this piece is dedicated to the memory of Neil Peart.

 

Limite Acque Sicure on stage, 2022

The long epic “Il giardino del mago” (The wizard’s garden) is a cover of Banco del Mutuo Soccorso and was recorded live. It’s an interesting tribute to one of the bands that inspired them the most and it leads to the last track, “Ti salverà” (It will save you), short, folksy song that begins by a strummed acoustic guitar. It’s a reprise of the last part of the second track, “Terra straniera” where the lyrics invite you to look up and follow the brightest star in the sky, a metaphorical ideal to not get lost in the path of life. According to an interview with the band, it’s a kind of synthesis of this work: as a virtuous attitude to maintain in the passages, in the evolutions of our life and our being, we wanted to propose the pursuit of an ideal, of a star that guides us...

On the whole, an excellent album where vintage sounds and original ideas merge convincingly.

You can listen to the complete album HERE

Limite Acque Sicure: Limite Acque Sicure (2022). Other opinions:
Jose Antonio Marmol: The high quality of this album, in both its musical content and sound, is fantastic and recognizable after the very first listen, which is not that usual when talking about debuts... (read the complete review HERE)

More info:

https://limiteacquesicure.it/

https://www.facebook.com/limiteacquesicure/