Monday 12 January 2015

A CRIMINAL SHOW

Noianoir is the second full length album by Neapolitan band I Pennelli di Vermeer. It was financed though the crowd-founding platform Produzioni dal Basso and released in 2014 on the independent label Marotta & Cafiero Recorder with a renewed line up featuring Pasquale Sorrentino (vocals, guitars, ukulele), Stefania Aprea (vocals), Pasquale Palomba (guitars), Raffaele Polimeno (piano, keyboards, Moog), Maurizio D'Antonio (bass), Marco Sorrentino (drums, vocals). The album was recorded with the help of some guest musicians such as Enrico Vicinanza (countertenor), Giovanni Vicinanza (electric guitar), Antonio Ostuni (electric guitar), Rosario Federico (Theremin), Fulvio Di Nocera (double bass), Catello Tucci (cello) and Ilario Ruopolo (violin) and features a nice artwork by Antonella Ruggiero. It's a concept album about a mysterious case of murder that media manipulate and transform into a kind of TV show where reality and fiction are mixed. Musically, this work is a funny, colourful patchwork with a strong theatrical approach, but beware! Not everything works and prog lovers could be puzzled and disappointed by the too many different influences that the band tried to put in their musical cocktail, ranging from surf and reggae to opera, funky, country rock and world music. There are some good ideas but in some way they are scattered all around and the result is not really cohesive: there are no recurring themes nor leitmotifs, even if all the tracks are linked together and conceived to tell a story. But, of course, the storyline is meant as a sarcastic criticism against trash TV and the overwhelming gossip of tabloids and press in general, so this could be just the right choice to underline the lyrics...


The short, promising "Ouverture" sets the atmosphere describing people without ideals who feel void and bored, a generation of web and TV children who are lurking around like werewolves. It leads to "Ray Chat" that recalls the Beach Boys (but with some renaissance sprinkles) and describes one of the protagonists of the story: the murderer, a boy obsessed by the internet.

On "Mrs Rose" you can hear the first news of the murder broadcast by the media. The corpse was found at the NoiaNoir Hotel, room number 33, then there's a description of the victim: thirty-three years old, a very peculiar soubrette, a social phenomenon and a femme fatale with a dubious background. Here the music combines reggae and opera, then a short instrumental intermezzo leads to a change and to the lively violin passages and oblique country rock of "Scoop" that portrays a journalist on his way to the crime scene and the instruction of his editor: well, pain is gold if you know how to exploit it!


"Boredom" is a dark, sarcastic ballad that stigmatizes the need of blood to suffocate the infectious sense of boredom of so many people in a society that suffers of the lack of ideals. Media exploit this phenomenon like in the cases of Cogne or Avetrana... The following "Orrido Tour" is a swinging musical scherzo that reminds me of the Quartetto Cetra, an Italian vocal quartet established during the 1940s. Here the ironic lyrics depict the phenomenon of the so called turismo dell'orrore, a peculiar kind of tourism bound to famous crime scenes.

The sound of police cars hooters introduces the following "La Paura" (Fear) that describes in a funny but effective way the feeling of fear and suspect spreading after a cruel, bloody crime amplified by the media. Eventually the investigation becomes a frenzied hunt that could lead to errors under the media pressure. Beware! Collective madness could drive someone to state that you are the monster, even if you are not guilty at all... Next comes the funky "Torquemada" that describes the detective in charge of the investigation, a nervous and unscrupulous inspector in hurry to find a culprit...


"Mostrografia" is a nice ballad where you can hear the media broadcasting the news of the arrest of the murderer and the hysteric reaction of the public. Then an ethereal instrumental intermezzo leads to "Criminal boy", where the music draws on a west coast daydream while the lyrics try to explain the reason of the crime. Some people kills to become famous, others just because they have to eat, some play the role of the executioner and later pray, others kill just because of boredom, without a real reason... You can't never be sure since you can't read a criminal mind!

The bluesy "Show case" describes the trial transformed into a TV show, with witness and protagonists acting like cinema stars, walking on the red carpet. The calm "Animi anonimi" (Anonymous souls) concludes the album with a bitter-sweet reflection about boredom and a merciless daily grind that anaesthetizes our consciousness.

On the whole, an interesting work where the band showcase good musicianship and many fresh ideas but that in my opinion is difficult to appreciate if you don't understand the lyrics and the storyline. Anyway, judge by yourselves: you can listen to the complete album in streaming HERE

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