Live: Waves From the
Underground is the ninth studio album by Daal and was released in
2025 on the independent Ma.Ra.Cash Records label. Despite the title,
it’s not a live album but the fruit of three days of jam sessions
that took place in Rome during October 2023. During those days the
band featuring Alfio Costa (Mellotron, MiniMoog, PolyMoog, Rhodes
piano, Hammond organ, synthesizers), Davide Guidoni (drums,
percussion), Ettore Salati (guitars) and Roberto “Bobo” Aiolfi
(bass) the band was particularly inspired and productive, so much so
that they decided to select the best moments from the jam sessions
and rework them, giving them a more definite shape and meaning.
Anyway, the artwork seems to suggest a rather dark atmosphere...
Almost
all the individual tracks are identified by a date and a location
derived from geographical coordinates. The first, “W.F.T.U.
09.03.2020 (45°41'42''N 9°40'12''E)”, takes us to Bergamo during
the sad days of the raging COVID-19 pandemic, when the number of
victims was so high that military vehicles were required to transport
the bodies and incinerate them. The images of those events, broadcast
by the media, are etched in the memory of all Italians and it's not
by chance that the music here is so sinister and disturbing...
The
following “W.F.T.U. 15.09.2008 (51°30'N 0°11'W)” takes us to
Kensington, London, on the day of Richard Wright's death, to whom the
piece is dedicated. On the same day, Lehman Brothers (the
fourth-largest U.S. investment bank) went bankrupt in New York, and
soon the streets of London would be invaded by protests over the Wall
Street Crisis, but this is another story... Her you have a slow pace,
melancholy atmospheres, and Gilmour-esque guitar sounds for a requiem
in honour of the Pink Floyd keyboardist, an artist who, with his
talent, opened new paths to travel to the far side of the moon...
“W.F.T.U.
26.04.1986 (51°23'21.98''N 30°05'57.01''E)” takes us to the
Chernobyl nuclear power plant at the moment of the explosion of
reactor No. 4. The tragic consequences of the episode are well known.
In the background, a female voice can be heard speaking in Russian,
while percussion instruments and strange sound effects convey a
strong sense of anguish. A warning about the mistakes of the past and
the dangers of the present...
“Daeconstruction
Brain Melody” is a brilliant new interpretation of a piece that
appeared on the band's debut album from 2009, Disorcanicorigami.
Compared to the original, it lacks the unsettling power of Alessandro
Papotto's sax, but its absence is compensated by the excellent guitar
work...
“W.F.T.U.
20.07.1969 (8°30'N 31°24'E)” takes us to South Sudan on the day a
human being walked on the Moon for the first time. The rarefied
atmospheres of space soon give way to ethnic influences reminiscent
of caravan journeys through the desert: two different types of desert
to explore. What emerges is the contrast between humanity's ambition
to explore space and its inability to focus on the desolate realities
of Earth, forgotten because they hold no interest...
“Daeconstruction
Decalogue Part 1” is the reinterpretation of a piece from the 2018
album Decalogue of Darkness. Back in 2018 the band shot a
video for it: the video features the images of some monks attempting
to defeat the devil, followed by rides of witches, dark Sabbaths and
satanic rituals. Well, this new version captures the atmosphere of
the original perfectly...
“W.F.T.U.
01.09.1928 (51°31'2'N 0°10'23'W)” is a long piece with a dreamy
and relaxed atmosphere, but not without rhythmic and melodic
surprises, that takes us to St. Mary's Hospital in London at the time
when the Scottish doctor Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin.
Regarding his discovery, later Dr. Fleming stated: "One
sometimes finds what one is not looking for. When I woke up just
after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn't plan to
revolutionise all medicine by discovering the world's
first antibiotic, or bacteria killer. But I suppose that was exactly
what I did..."...
“W.F.T.U.
02.06.1946 (41°53'35'N 12°28'58'E)” takes us to Italy on the day
the Italian Republic was founded. From the Tyrrhenian Sea, we can
admire the coast of a country at the dawn of a new era, a country
eager to leave behind the burdensome legacy of monarchy and fascism
and turn the page. Drum rolls and a disquieting opening reminiscent
of Goblins in Deep Red seem to suggest that this day of
celebration is only the beginning of a long and challenging
journey...
The
last track, “W.F.T.U. 25.07.1943 (41°53'46.32''N 12°28'53.4''E)”,
takes us to Rome on the day of the fall of fascism. World War II was
still raging, but the piece's solemn pace seems to suggest feelings
of hope, resilience, and faith in the future...
On
the whole, an interesting and challenging album that need its time to
be fully appreciated but that will reward you in the end.
You
can listen the complete album HERE
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