Nuova
Divisione began life in 2009 in Avezzano, a town in the province of
L'Aquila, in an area called Marsica. After a still immature work
self-released in 2012, Once Upon a Time, in 2014 they
self-released an ambitious and more refined sophomore album titled
The Last Man In Europe, with a line up featuring Daniele Mari
(drums, percussion), Alessandro Rivolta (bass, synthesizers, piano,
vocals), Simone Salucci (piano, organ, synthesizers, Mellotron,
vocals) and Francesco Mezzoprete (guitars). Despite the Italian name,
the main influences of the band come from across the Channel and
range from The Beatles to Pink Floyd and Genesis. The result is an
interesting mix of psychedelia and progressive rock with a vast array
of vintage sounds and a strong leaning to melody. The Last Man In
Europe's music and lyrics (in English) tell of a man overwhelmed
by his ego while the artwork and a surreal short story (in Italian)
that you can find in the booklet try to help you to understand better
the subject matter: in fact, here images and words are like the
layers of a bad dream, just hanging memories that you can hardly
define in the morning...
art cover
The
opener "Here's The Light" starts softly with a spacey,
mysterious atmosphere, then the rhythm rises and the story begins,
the story of a man who dared to challenge gods, fate and fears.
There's a beggar at your door and he looks like you... The following
"Have You Ever Wondered Why?" recalls Genesis and raises
some questions that could lead to an existential crisis, but beware!
The road is dangerous and you could run like hell into a wall just waiting for
the final cut... "Mind Your Steps" is a short instrumental
track that could recall EL&P with a pinch of Jethro Tull, the
tension is high but after a while the rhythm calms down...
"The
Contract" is a nice, light track that recalls The Beatles and
describes the deal with a mysterious character who can give you
anything you want: all you have to do is signing the contract with a
blood drop. Next comes "I Don't Care" that takes you to the
land of consumerism and egoism. You can go everywhere, so why not
having breakfast in America, for instance? No need of explanations,
time is worthless, there's no need to care about other people, now
your ego is the only religion... Then, on the melodic "If You
Want it" you can hear here, there and everywhere the singing
sirens of desire, the tempting sound of a pied piper and you let it
be...
"A
Creature Of Reality (a.k.a. The Egosystem)" begins by a marching
beat and drum rolls. You're losing control, you get lost in a
nightmare but there's no time for pain, the spirits all around you
are cold and you can see a shiny glow... Then comes the psychedelic
"Remember The Future" full of dark visions and obscure
omens and the mellow, yellow "Stop Your Mind" where
thoughts keep on swirling all around and your damned ego begins to
play bad tricks tearing you down. On "Here's The Night" the
mood is even darker while the nightmare gets worse and worse. You
gaze regretfully at the bloody contract while the walls around you
turn into mirrors reflecting your immeasurable ego...
The
long, complex suite "The Last Man In Europe" concludes the
album. It's divided into three parts (Abomination Of Desolation - It
Was A Fake Moustache - A Storm In A Teacup) and depicts a surreal
landscape. Your ego was so big that there was no room for anyone
else, now you're alone! You're the only inhabitant of a brand new
world, and you're feeling terribly sad and desperate... Is this
really what you call life?
On
the whole a good album, even if it doesn't shine for originality. All
the members of the band are still young but they're all skilled
musicians and I'm sure that they will do better in the future.
Anyway, have a try and judge by yourselves...
You
can listen to the complete album in streaming HERE
La
Forza Elettro Motrice (in short F.E.M.) came to life in Meda in 2007
from the ashes of a band called QK, on the initiative of Alberto
Citterio and Paolo Colombo. After some live experiences on the local
scene and a first EP in 2012, in 2014 they finally released their
first full length album on the independent label Altrock/Fading
Records with a renewed line up featuring Alberto Citterio
(keyboards), Paolo Colombo (guitars), Marco Buzzi (bass), Emanuele
Borsati (drums) and Massimo Sabbatini (vocals). It's titled "Sulla
bolla di sapone" (On the soap bubble) and it's a conceptual work
loosely based on a short story by German writer Kurd Lasswitz, Auf
der Seifenblase. Although this work is divided into individual
tracks, it does function as a whole and the music flows away without
interruptions as in a long suite. As you can guess, the album stems
from many years of hard work and is the result of the distillation of
a myriad of influences but the band managed to throw enough of their
own originality into the mix to keep their compositions and
arrangements forward looking and interesting from start to end.
Sometimes the vocalist seems to struggle to interpret all the
different characters of the story showcasing a good theatrical
approach but this does not spoil the pleasure of the listening. The
artwork by Dario D'Alessandro is beautiful and in some way describes
the content of the album portrying a dreamy world in a soap bubble...
The
brilliant opener "Il giardino delle consuetudini" (The
custom's garden) sets the atmosphere and conjures up the image of a
beautiful garden where we meet two men and a child. It's pleasant to
sit quietly in this garden for a while and let things slide, you can
relax and sit down. The child is playing with soap bubbles and
suddenly asks a question... “Uncle Wendel, uncle Wendel! Just
look at the soap bubbles, the wonderful colours! But where do the
colours come from?”. In a while certainties and untouchable
truths start to crumble for a man that is not used to think of the
sense of an endless reality. It's the starting point for an
incredible journey...
The
following "Microgen" is divided into two parts. The first
is an instrumental one that begins by a dazzling sound of
synthesizers and draws you in a mysterious atmosphere. Then, on the
second part, the music and lyrics invite you to try, try hard to
think of the world in a different way. One of the two men in the
garden, uncle Wendel, is a very peculiar genius, half alchemist and
half scientist, who has discovered a tool that can make everything
very small and that's called microgen... Each of the conscious
capabilities would be altered so that all qualitative perceptions
remained the same, but all quantitative relationships are reduced in
scale. He maintained that he could shrink any individual he chose -
along with their view of world - to one millionth, even one billionth
part of normal size... "Do you want to discover Microgen? /
Do you want to try Microgen? / Can you understand microgen? / Here
you are! It's microgen's time...".
The
dreamy "Il mondo bianco opaco" (The white, opaque world) is
a beautiful instrumental interlude based on a piano pattern that
takes us on a soap bubble. Then, on the following "Consapevolezza"
(Consciousness) the rhythm rises while we're approaching a strange
new world. Slowly we land on it, we're surrounded by a landscape of
glycerine, the earth looks like a frozen sea, the white sky is like
curtain. In the fog we can see some strange shapes coming forward...
"Incontro
con i saponiani" (Meeting with the Saponiens) is an aggressive
instrumental track that describes the meeting with the inhabitants of
the soap bubble, the Saponiens, and leads to the following "Nella
città" (In the town). Here the music and lyrics describe a
surreal world where different realities clash into each other. The
quiet garden is far behind: now we're not just living in a dream but
we're entering in a kind of theatre of dreams, we're entering in an
unknown, crowded place and every blink is a mosaic of the picture of
the mysterious town... Then the Saponiens noticed our presence and
gathered round us with many questions, displaying their obvious
desire for knowledge. Understanding between us was made the
more difficult because their limbs, which possessed a certain
similarity to the feelers of polyps, moved in such peculiar ways that
even gestures were hard to make out...
The
heavier, dark instrumental "Il signore dei pensanti" (The
Lord of the Thinkers) takes us on a trip to the capital city where
the head of state of the Saponiens, who bears the title Lord of the
Thinkers, resides. It's a good chance to learn more about this
strange civilization. In fact, the Saponiens call themselves The
Thinkers for the study of science is held in the highest regard and
the whole nation takes a keen interest in the scientific disputes of
their learned men. Later we have the chance to attend a trial against
a local scientist called Glagli: the music and lyrics of the
following "Processo alla verità" (The truth on trial)
describe the trial. In some way it recalls the trial of Giordano Bruno or GalileoGalilei where conservative, obscurantist thesis
prevail on rationality. Beware! During the trial one of the
protagonists speaks up and commits the error to get involved in the
argument backing Glagli's innovative theories and tells the assembly
the story of their journey to the soap bubble... “Outrage!
Blasphemy! Madness!” echoed all around, and inkwells flew at my
head. “He’s mad! The world a soap bubble? His son made it? He
pretends to be the father of the creator of the world! Boil him! Boil
him!”. Well, it's time to get back I fear... "Here we are!
/ It's time of the micrgen!".
"Riflessioni"
(Reflections) is a beautiful instrumental acoustic piece full of
classical influences and delicate nuances that leads to "Il peso
della conoscenza" (The weight of knowledge) where the music and
lyrics invite you to reflect about your experience and to look at the
world with an open mind and a new awareness. Now subtle sounds drive
your thoughts, you can hear the voice of conscience telling words
that seem void but bear the weight of knowledge. Knowledge can mean
responsibility and revolution, wisdom can be misunderstood and
confused with madness, we can find threatening what we can't
understand... It can’t be understood, I can’t explain it to
you; it would be no use. People remain people whether large or small.
They never look beyond themselves. Why should I let it cause trouble?
During
the ethereal, spacey instrumental "Un viaggio lungo un istante"
(A journey that lasts a moment) you're still lost in your thoughts,
then another beautiful instrumental track, "Reviviscenza"
(Revivescence), brings new life and strength. The music and lyrics of
the following "Ritorno al giardino" (Return to the garden)
take you back to reality. After your dangerous journey you know that
an absolute truth does not exist and that this is the true principle
of freedom. "E il mondo scoppierà" (And the world will
burst) concludes the album with a nice drumming and a new energy, now
you can feel a new consciousness and you can turn your eyes to your
land as a new man... "How many transparent bubbles around us? /
Can you see them?...". Uncle Wendel laughed, the bubble burst
- and my little son blew another...
You can listen in streaming to the complete album HERE
You
can read the short story that inspired the album translated into
English by Noel Middleton HERE
Forza Elettro Motrice: Sulla bolla di sapone (2014). Other opinions:
Michael "Aussie-Byrd-Brother: F.E.M are offering classic Italian prog influences successfully
mixed with modern sensibilities, all performed with a youthful vigour and spirited energy.
Respectful of the past without simply slavishly remaking it, fans of the older vintage acts
should give this band a listen to see how the proud tradition of the past masters is in good
hands and carrying on in a grand and promising fashion... (read the complete review HERE)
