Alice’s Mirror were formed in 2016 in Ruvo di Puglia, a town in the
province of Bari, with the aim of playing a personal kind of
progressive rock merging influences from the past and modern sounds.
After some time spent in composing original pieces and refining them
playing gigs on the local scene, in 2018 the band released an
interesting debut album entitled Through The Mirror on the
independent label Hydra Music with a line up featuring Fulvio Bucci
(vocals, bass), Eduardo Bucci (organ, piano, keyboards), Walter
Antonio Lanotte (guitars, bouzouki, lap steel) and Michele Di Modugno
(drums, pad). The album artwork by Francesco Pio Marcone reflects the
musical content and in the pics you can find in the booklet you can
also appreciate all the attention that the musicians pay to the
visual aspect of their music, influenced by the novel of Lewis
Carroll and the colourful, animated film by Walt Disney. According to
the band, the mirror reflects what we are and it could be seen as a
gate to enter the soul of a musician while Alice – the protagonist
of a journey through a surreal, crazy world – represents a metaphor
of the musical research of the band...
The dreamy instrumental opener “Fake communication #1” starts
softly by a spacey atmosphere and ends with an excerpt from the 1981
Italian comedy-drama film Sweet Dreams directed by Nanni
Moretti where you can hear Nanni Moretti’s enraged voice repeat “I
do not speak about things I don’t know!”. It’s the
introduction to “Fake Communication” a committed, heartfelt
reflection about the negative effects of social media on our way to
communicate where words become just noise and too many people seem to
speak up without anything to say, prisoners of the likes on their
chats...
An excerpt from the Italian version of Alice In Wonderland,
the 1951 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt
Disney Productions introduces the excellent instrumental piece
“Alice's Dance” that blends echoes from the seventies and nervous
heavy passages with electric guitar and organ in the forefront.
It leads to “Ronin”, a kind of elegy for a lost friend that
begins by a delicate acoustic guitar arpeggio and a dreamy piano
pattern. The mood is melancholic as the music and words depict pale
clouds in a still sky and blossoming flowers in the fields... The
springtime landscape is the sad set for the last goodbye to a
wandering warrior, a samurai without lord nor land... This track
features the backing vocals of the Corale Polifonica “Rubis Canto”
directed by Maestro Nicola Bucci.
A short excerpt from a documentary about Johann Sebastian Bach that
stigmatizes the bad temper of the famous composer introduces “Bachtown”, a sparkling exercise of style where the musicians showcase
their talent and great musicianship blending rock and classical
music, from Bach to Mozart and his Turkish March from the Piano
Sonata in A Major n. 11...
“Merigold” is a nice folksy piece that deals with the issue of
emigration. You have to face a problematic choice, are you really
sure you’ll be happier if you leave behind and forget your homeland
and roots to search for a better place where to live and make money?
Is this the life you really want? All that glitters is not always
gold...
Two instrumental tracks close the album, the nervous “Jump The
Step” and the long, dreamy “Arabian Carpet”, sprinkled with
Oriental flavours and touches of psychedelia to conjure up a strong
sense of mystery and where aggressive electric guitar riffs alternate
with softer, acoustic passages.
On the whole, a very good album although I think that it’s a pity
that the band did not exploit more their mother language for lyrics
and vocals.
You can listen to the complete album HERE
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