A PULSING HEMISPHERE

Emisfero Boreale come from Milan and their roots date back to 1977 when a musical and cultural project named Collettivo di Iniziativa Musicale was created. The band took form from it in 1978 and had been active until 1993 playing live on a local level. Their sound, inspired by the Italian prog masters of the seventies and by the Canterbury scene with bands such as Gong, Hatfield And The North, Caravan or National Health, was then considered out of date and it’s no wonder that they never had the chance to properly release an album during their early years of activity although they recorded some demos. In 2019, after a long hiatus, the band reunited recording old and new compositions and in 2022 finally self-released an official debut album entitled Pulsazioni with a line up featuring Pasquale Petrossi aka Banana Joker (guitar, keyboards), Alberto “Pepè” Petrossi (bass), Enrico Ferraresi (drums), Nicola Calegari (sax) and Chus Fernandez (bass) plus the guests Chiche Sosa (guitar), William Marino (guitar), Teodoro Romero Escudero (percussion) and Amerio Pace (acoustic guitar). It’s a completely instrumental album that in my opinion is really worth listening to...

 

The excellent opener “La rottura della sfera di cristallo” (The breaking of the crystal ball) alternates dreamy atmospheres and raging solos with sax and electric guitar in the forefront backed by pulsing bass lines...

“Nuova civiltà anno zero” (New civilization year zero) starts softly with a strong Oriental flavour, then the rhythm takes off leading to new horizons, from Mediterranean shores to America and return...

The lively title track, “Pulsazioni” (Pulsations), is full of bright melodic lines and positive energy while the following “Emisfero boreale” (Boreal Hemisphere) is more delicate and relaxed with its slow pace and nocturnal mood. It could be a perfect score for some scenes of a romantic movie...

The title of the spacey epic “Arkonis” seems to refer to an imaginary solar system described in the Perry Rhodan series, a German space opera franchise, named after its hero which started in 1961 and has been ongoing for decades, written by an ever-changing team of authors. It’s a long piece that goes through many changes in rhythm taking you on a ride across the universe towards far stars, mysterious worlds and new musical adventures…

Next comes “Lockdown” that brings you back to Earth with a slight sense of nostalgia and darker colours... Then “Hasta la vista amigos” (See you later friends) ends the album with some sparkling variations on the main theme of the title track...

On the whole, a very pleasant work.

You can listen to the complete album HERE

More info:
https://www.emisferoboreale.com/

 

MUSIC, PLEASE...

L’anno del contatto is the debut album of I Modium, a band based in Marano Lagunare, in the province of Udine. The album was self-released in 2019 with a line up featuring Silvio Frausin (vocals), Elvio Tavian (electric and acoustic guitar - previously member of Quasar Lux Symphoniae), Alessandro Filippo (keyboards), Michele Seravalle (drums, percussion) and Gianni Regeni (bass, acoustic guitar) and is the result of a long evolution since before the recording sessions the band had been active on the local scene for more than ten years, playing covers of the masters of Italian prog from the seventies such as PFM, Area, Le Orme or BMS and composing new material in the same style. The art cover by Federico Cautero tries to give a clue of the musical and poetic content of this work...

The title track, “L’anno del contatto” (The year we make contact), opens the album. It’s a piece that recalls Le Orme and was inspired by 2010: The Year We Make Contact, a 1984 American science fiction film written, produced, shot and directed by Peter Hyams as a sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The music and lyrics evoke a message of peace and hope from a mysterious alien power. There are far signals coming from another time and hidden words carried by the wind falling like confetti, when the humankind will heed the message everybody will look up and all the differences and distances between people will dissolve...

“Sorona dove sei” (Sorona, where are you?) is a beautiful, heartfelt tribute to le Orme’s masterpiece Felona e Sorona. The music and lyrics depict a man in the night who looks up to the sky. He’s a prog fan, no doubt! Suddenly an explosion of light makes reality vanish and he can see for a moment Felona and Sorona, the two imaginary planets lost in the universe spinning in balance and harmony like twin roses...

“Un attimo di infinito” (A moment of infinity) is a short, dreamy acoustic piece evoking a sudden warm light that can drive you across a boundless space where rivers of stars will cradle your dreams. Eventually, wrapped in peace, you’ll wake up in the hidden infinite that lies within you...

“La fabbrica del silenzio” (The silence factory) depicts in music and words a gloomy dystopic future where there’s no music and fragments of sound blot out the sun and fall down like ashes. The men no longer sing and a continuous background noise covers those who still try to see, think or speak up. But inside the sound screen a clandestine factory works in the dark and cleanses minds by producing and spreading silence...
 

I Modium, 2019

“Per favore musica (P.F.M.)” (Music, please) is a funny, sarcastic criticism against trashy music broadcast on radio and TV. The protagonist can’t find a single channel he can listen to with pleasure, he’s fed up and begins to think that all the music is over. So he asks to listen to his favourite music again, certain that it will be a real celebration for those who will be there to listen to it…

“L’altra” (The other) is a short, dreamy acoustic track where vocals are used just as an instrument... It leads to the following “Piccoli galli” (Little roosters) where a strange thought begins to fly like in a psychedelic vision and the beat of the heart never stops...

“L’anello del bufalo” (The buffalo’s ring) is an excellent, evocative piece that conjures up in music and words the image of an old sea dog, an experienced mariner with a strong will and a stubbornness that allows him to overcome the adversities of wind, sea and life. He has the looks and strength of a pirate and in his nose there’s a ring, the ring of a Namibian buffalo. I’m sure you will be fascinated by the stories he tells...

The last track, “Rifletto” (I reflect), is a caustic piece that portrays an unscrupulous social climber, a man who talks about things he doesn’t know, a false moralist disguised as a nonconformist, politically ambiguous and always on the winning side. If you look at him in a mirror, you’ll see that he is never the man reflected...

On the whole, a good and passionate album quoting with respect and personality the RPI’s masters!

You can listen to the complete album HERE

More info:

https://www.facebook.com/I.Modiumlive