Armonite
began life in Pavia in 1996 and in 1999 released an interesting debut
album entitled Inuit on the independent label Mellow Records.
After a long hiatus, in 2014 the band came back to life on the
initiative of Paolo Fosso (keyboards) and Jacopo Bigi (electric
violin), two classical trained musicians in love with rock and modern
audio-visual arts. For the recording sessions of their new album, The
Sun Is New Each Day, thanks to the new technologies who allow
working via internet, the line up was temporarily completed with the
contribute of British bassist Colin Edwin (from Porcupine Tree) and
Dutch drummer Jasper Barendregt while the guest Marcello Rosa played
cello on two tracks. The album was produced, engineered and mixed by
Paul Reeve in Cornwall, mastered by Geoff Pesche at the Abbey Road
Studios in London and finally digitally self-released in 2015 on
bandcamp with a nice art work by Cyril Rolando a.k.a. AquaSixio.
The
album features nine relatively short instrumental tracks where violin
and keyboards perfectly interact with each other weaving charming
melodic lines backed by the tight rhythm section. The classical
influences are strong but always mixed with gusto and extravaganza,
there are no long suites and although the pieces are not overtly
complex they are never banal and the music flows away without weak
moments. According to the band, some of the pieces were conceived as
short soundtracks and some videos were shot to complete in some way
the music. It's the case of the nice opener "Suitcase War",
suspended between classical tradition and modernity, where you can
see in the video the band performing in a virtual, empty opera theatre with the
help of a remote drummer...
The
following "Connect Four" blends touches of electronica, a
bit of folk and brushes of classical taste and leads to the frenzied
"G as in Gears" that features a short narrative
vocal part evoking a commuter's routine, then comes "Sandstorm"
that conjures up Oriental sceneries and ethnic flavours... The
overall sound is well refined and the songwriting brilliant and full
of nuances, although every now and again light reminiscences of albums such as
Jet Leg by Premiata Forneria Marconi or Florian by Le
Orme could come to mind the band sound modern and not stuck in
the past at all.
The disquieting "Slippery Slope", the
dreamy "Satellites", the hectic "Die Grauen Herren",
the delicate, romantic "Le temps qui fait ta rose" and the
conclusive, video-game inspired "Insert Coin" complete a coherent and cohesive
set that in my opinion is really worth listening to.
The
aim of the band is to play their music live as much as possible,
that's why you can legally download the complete album for free: the musicians
just hope that you will enjoy the music and spread the word out to help them
to find gigs around the world, so... Well, have a try and judge by
yourselves!
You
can listen to the complete album HERE
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