A PULSING HEMISPHERE

Emisfero Boreale come from Milan and their roots date back to 1977 when a musical and cultural project named Collettivo di Iniziativa Musicale was created. The band took form from it in 1978 and had been active until 1993 playing live on a local level. Their sound, inspired by the Italian prog masters of the seventies and by the Canterbury scene with bands such as Gong, Hatfield And The North, Caravan or National Health, was then considered out of date and it’s no wonder that they never had the chance to properly release an album during their early years of activity although they recorded some demos. In 2019, after a long hiatus, the band reunited recording old and new compositions and in 2022 finally self-released an official debut album entitled Pulsazioni with a line up featuring Pasquale Petrossi aka Banana Joker (guitar, keyboards), Alberto “Pepè” Petrossi (bass), Enrico Ferraresi (drums), Nicola Calegari (sax) and Chus Fernandez (bass) plus the guests Chiche Sosa (guitar), William Marino (guitar), Teodoro Romero Escudero (percussion) and Amerio Pace (acoustic guitar). It’s a completely instrumental album that in my opinion is really worth listening to...

 

The excellent opener “La rottura della sfera di cristallo” (The breaking of the crystal ball) alternates dreamy atmospheres and raging solos with sax and electric guitar in the forefront backed by pulsing bass lines...

“Nuova civiltà anno zero” (New civilization year zero) starts softly with a strong Oriental flavour, then the rhythm takes off leading to new horizons, from Mediterranean shores to America and return...

The lively title track, “Pulsazioni” (Pulsations), is full of bright melodic lines and positive energy while the following “Emisfero boreale” (Boreal Hemisphere) is more delicate and relaxed with its slow pace and nocturnal mood. It could be a perfect score for some scenes of a romantic movie...

The title of the spacey epic “Arkonis” seems to refer to an imaginary solar system described in the Perry Rhodan series, a German space opera franchise, named after its hero which started in 1961 and has been ongoing for decades, written by an ever-changing team of authors. It’s a long piece that goes through many changes in rhythm taking you on a ride across the universe towards far stars, mysterious worlds and new musical adventures…

Next comes “Lockdown” that brings you back to Earth with a slight sense of nostalgia and darker colours... Then “Hasta la vista amigos” (See you later friends) ends the album with some sparkling variations on the main theme of the title track...

On the whole, a very pleasant work.

You can listen to the complete album HERE

More info:
https://www.emisferoboreale.com/