Amigdala
began life in Naples in 2008 as a “laboratory of instrumental
music” with the aim to blend jazz with progressive rock and
avant-garde. In 2012 the band released a début album on the
independent label Suoni del Sud, “Opere Omus”, with a line
up featuring Marco Gesualdi (guitars), Vittorio Nicoletti Altimari
(bass), Carmine Brachi (drums), Luca Toller (piano, synthesizers) and
Francesco Gallo (sax, flute). During the recording sessions they were
helped by many guests (among others Lino Vairetti from Osanna) who
contributed to enrich the sound with good results. Amigdala's sources
of inspiration range from The Beatles to Frank Zappa and Weather
Report, from Osanna and Napoli Centrale to Area but they managed to
add to their music a touch of originality.
The
beautiful opener “Intifada” begins with the piano evoking the
race of a White Elephant in a dark September day, then the sax starts
to weave threatening plots with a strong Middle-Eastern flavour. Next
comes the title track where Area's influences are even more evident
thanks to the vocals provided by the guests Luca Saccoia and Marco
Francini who recall Demetrio Stratos... “An unknown desire calls me
in the enchanted city / Stronger than a book, stronger than a game /
In the music street there are smiles and guitars / Forests of sounds,
horizons of joy / Hooters, narrow alleys, ghosts, queens / Come here,
come here...”. The finale of this piece is freely taken from Igor
Stravinsky's “Bird of Fire”.
“No
One” is a nice instrumental track where the fusion influences take
you on an imaginary voyage across the Ocean. It leads to “Sinistro”
(Sinister) where a string quartet interacts with the jazz rock
sensibility of the band adding more musical colours with interesting
results as in the following “29.S” where you can find echoes of
Tango and clouds of passionate nostalgia flying around.
“La
mela di Odessa” (The Apple from Odessa), is an Area's cover
featuring Lino Vairetti on vocals. As you probably know, the lyrics
tell in a surreal way the story of a Dadaist artist called Apple who,
soon after the Russian Revolution, hijacks a German ship and delivers
her to the Bolsheviks in Odessa where they blow her up. It's not an
easy subject but the interpretation here is personal and filled with
irony.
“Unisono”
is a short jazzy instrumental that leads to the swinging “Sir
Ralph”, featuring the guest Marcello Coleman (from Almamegretta) on
vocals... “Sensibility and feelin' / This is the music who's
fillin' my brain / Keep on runnin' / Keep on jumpin' / Keep on
movin'...”. The last track “Macumba” features the guests
Maurizio Capone on percussion and Riccardo Veno on flute. It comes
from the repertoire of a previous band where militated Marco
Gesualdi, Vittorio Nicoletti Altimari and Maurizio Capone and
features a strong Mediterranean flavour.
On
the whole, a good album from a very interesting band.
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