Nous
is the fourth album by Nodo Gordiano, an Italian prog band based in
Rome whose roots date back to 1994. It was released in 2014 on the
independent label AMS/Btf with a renewed line up featuring founder
member Andrea De Luca (bass, guitar, synthesizers) along with Carlo
Fattorini (drums, percussion, vibraphone, glockenspiel) and Fabrizio
Santoro (electric guitar, synthesizers, bass). Some guest musicians
such as Silvia Scozzi (vocals), Gianluca Cottarelli (electric piano)
and Valerio Di Giovanni (guitar) took part to the recording sessions
and helped the band to enrich their sound. The result is this
excellent concept album sui generis where the musicians
managed to shape a very personal blend of tradition and new ideas.
The artwork, music and lyrics draw dreamy landscapes and beckon you
to embark on a voyage for far unknown shores...
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| art cover |
The
opener "Portonovo" begins by a calm, dreamy acoustic
passage that reminds me of Francesco Guccini's L'isola non trovata. Soaring vocals conjure up the image of a ship and
invite you to casting off and set sail at dawn. Your fatherland is
over there and your fantasy is already gliding on the sea. Then the
rhythm rises, the wind begins to blow and you're carried away by the
waves... Well, in some way
this track makes me think of a short story by H.P. Lovecraft,
The White Ship..."Out of the South it was that the White Ship
used to come when the moon was full and high in the heavens. Out of
the South it would glide very smoothly and silently over the sea. And
whether the sea was rough or calm, and whether the wind was friendly
or adverse, it would always glide smoothly and silently, its sails
distant and its long strange tiers of oars moving rhythmically...".
"Aion"
is a beautiful instrumental track that every now and again recalls
Pink Floyd. The image chosen to describe it in the booklet is an
ouroboros, a serpent eating its own tail that usually symbolizes
something constantly re-creating itself, the eternal return. It
features spacey, psychedelic atmospheres and dark energies running
like hell all along the band's particular wall of sound. Then comes
"Apologia del Nolano", a celebration of musical freedom
that reminds me slightly of bands such as Area and BMS. The music and
lyrics here evoke infinite spaces, nomadic songs breaking free from
their prisons, kingdoms of unreachable echoes, uncountable worlds and
distant lands where the people speak different languages that you
can't understand and where the free breath of your soul can shine
brightly.This piece is dedicated to the memory of Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno from Nola.
The
ethereal "Nous" is a long, complex instrumental piece full
of psychedelic nuances. The image the band chose to describe it in
the booklet represents an old, surreal world map... It leads to the
dreamy "Officina" where you get lost at dawn on the limit
between reveries and reality. Then you enter into a strange, magic
workshop where you can exercise your crafts... Next comes the
beautiful, alchemical "Arturiana", a charming instrumental
track with a mysterious atmosphere described with the image of a
sword in a circle and where you can almost perceive the ghosts of
King Arthur and his knights of the round table riding through clouds
and enchanted woods.
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| Nodo Gordiano on stage 2014 |
The
closer "Stella Maris" is depicted by a ship sailing across
a storming sea. It's another beautiful instrumental piece where the
female vocals of Siliva Schiozzi are used as an instrument and seem
to evoke the hypnotic singing of a mermaid... "I walked out
over the waters to the White Ship on a bridge of moonbeams. The man
who had beckoned now spoke a welcome to me in a soft language I
seemed to know well, and the hours were filled with soft songs of the
oarsmen as we glided away into a mysterious South, golden with the
glow of that full, mellow moon..." (H.P.
Lovecraft, The White Ship).
On
the whole, I think that this is a very good album, an essential one
for every Italianprog collector. Anyway, have a try and judge by
yourselves!
You
can listen to the complete album in streaming HERE
Nodo
Gordiano: Nous (2014). Other opinions:
Jim
Russell: Adventure, mystery, and a willingness to dive down any
possible rabbit hole with a big hearted grin. If prog-rock is about
fun and adventure and you don't mind forgoing the "easily
accessible" on occasion, then you're likely to enjoy this one...
(read the complete review HERE)
Michael
"Aussie-Byrd-Brother": Although predominantly a space
rock album, the band still work in classic vintage RPI/Italian prog
traits, psych flavours and progressive-electronic traditions, driven
by raging electric and ragged acoustic guitar, droning electronics
and plentiful use of the mighty Mellotron! With cover art that
suggests exploration and uncharted courses of an earthly kind, what
the band really delivers aims straight for the furthest reaches of
deep space... (read the complete review HERE)
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