MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS

Apofenia is the third studio album by Il giardino Onirico and was released in 2019 on the independent label Lizard Records with a line up featuring Stefano Avigliana (guitars), Dariush Hakim (keyboards), Ettore Mazzarini (bass), Massimo Moscatelli (drums, percussion) and Emanuele Telli (keyboards) plus the guests Alessandro Corvaglia (vocals - from La Maschera di Cera, Delirium), Jenny Sorrenti (vocals - from Saint Just), Jenna “Sharm” Holdway (vocals), David Morucci (sax), Claudio Braccio (sax) and the choir Fuori dal Coro. In my opinion, this is a mature and refined work, enriched by the contribute of many prestigious guests, full of inventiveness and fresh ideas combined with vintage sounds and psychedelic flights that the colourful art work by Marco Marini tries to describe on the cover and booklet. The title refers to the tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated things...
 

The long, hypnotic opener “Onironauta” (Oneironaut) is a beautiful instrumental track where the band "resolved to go with bold entreaty whither no man had gone before, and dare the icy deserts through the dark to where unknown Kadath, veiled in cloud and crowned with unimagined stars, holds secret and nocturnal the onyx castle of the Great Ones", like Randolph Carter, the protagonist of H.P. Lovecraft novella The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. To be honest, I don’t know if the work of the American writer was a source of inspiration for the band, but in my opinion the dark, mysterious atmosphere of this piece perfectly fits the subject matter...

The excellent “Scivolosa simmetria” (Slippery symmetry) features the vocals of Alessandro Corvaglia and tells in music and poetical words of a haunting, obsessive desire that turns into stone, a thought that becomes a prison between dream and reality, delirium and magic. It starts by a frenzied instrumental passage, then the vocals evoke fiery dances upon coloured petals and magic symphonies as the protagonist tries to escape from the dangerous vortex of an ecstatic, suggestive dream that could lead to death...
 

“Alétheia” is a long, dreamy instrumental track that starts softly and evolves in a crescendo of psychedelic fantasies and Latin echoes, with a good sax and electric guitar work. After a sudden stop in the middle, there’s a second part that veers to calmer musical landscapes. The title refers to a philosophical term that means truth or disclosure but also factuality or reality...

The title of the following “Mushin” refers to a mental state that is achieved when a person’s mind is free from thoughts of anger, fear or ego during combat or everyday life and features the guest vocalist Jenny Sorrenti. It’s an ethereal, reflective piece sung in English with a slow pace, a spacey atmosphere and a touch of electronica that deals with spiritual issues like time, love and inner knowledge...

Il Giardino Onirico, 2019

 

“Apogeo” (Apogee) is another track with a strong spacey atmosphere that in the first part could recall Pink Floyd while in the middle section, with a good sax work, is more aggressive and closer to King Crimson. The last part is a wonderful crescendo where the rhythm seems to take off for the outer space... In fact, the title refers to the point in the orbit of a heavenly body at which it is farthest from the earth...

“Un nodo all’anima” (A knot in the soul) starts by an acoustic guitar arpeggio and the soaring vocals of Alessandro Corvaglia in the forefront. It’s a beautiful piece that goes through many changes in rhythm and atmosphere with hermetic lyrics evoking dreams to hold, time spent running after appearances and the desperate need to connect mind and soul to avoid the blades of a deceitful destiny that could hurt you. Mediterranean influences, powerful melodies, flamenco sketches and heavier passages are blended with gusto and personality... A wonderful track!

The long, mysterious “Lacrime di stelle” (Star tears) ends the album with a melancholic mood and mystic, Oriental flavours. Here the voice of the guest Jenna “Sharm” Holdway is used just as a charming instrument to add colours to the musical canvas and put a spell on you in a starry night filled with memories and lunar visions...

On the whole, a magnificent work full of nuances and excellent pieces!

You can listen to the complete album HERE

More info:

https://www.ilgiardinoonirico.com/ 

https://www.facebook.com/ilgiardinonirico/ 

SLEEPWALKING IN THE GARDEN

After the release of their first official album entitled Perigeo (2012), Il Giardino Onirico started to re-work on the ideas of their 2010 demo titled Complesso K. In 2013 the band released a new, enhanced version of the demo on the independent label Lizard Records with a line up featuring Emanuele Telli (keyboards), Stefano Avigliana (guitars), Ettore Mazzarini (bass), Massimo Moscatelli (drums, percussion), Dariush Hakim (keyboards, effects) and Marco Marini (vocals). The title of this new work is Complesso K MMXIII to differentiate it from the original demo recordings and in my opinion the result is excellent.

Il Giardino Onirico 2013

“Complesso K” is a long suite divided into four parts plus an introduction. The intro begins with narrative vocals and a dark, spacey atmosphere... “Oneiric is the way you take when the sundown closes the night curtain and its arms stretch out stealing streets, deserts, whispers...”. The words evoke strange psychedelic visions, musical harmonies and orgies of sounds and colours... Close your eyes, the words will follow you down into your sleep like a mystic incantation while a strange journey begins and the rhythm rises.

Well, the title of the suite refers to a K-complex and gives you a key to approach this work. A K-complex is an electroencephalography waveform that occurs during Non-Rapid Eye Movement sleep. According to wikipedia sources, unlike REM sleep, there is usually little or no eye movement during this stage. Dreaming is rare during NREM sleep... People who do not go through the sleeping stages properly get stuck in NREM sleep and because muscles are not paralyzed, a person may be able to sleepwalk... The mental activity that takes place during NREM sleep is believed to be thought-like, whereas REM sleep includes hallucinatory and bizarre content.

Part I and II are completely instrumental and feature a wide range of influences, from Pink Floyd and Eloy to Goblin and Pholas Dactylus. There are many sudden changes in mood and atmosphere but I never have the feeling of aimless improvisation. Lights and shadows, notes and images move in a quickening tempo like clouds in the sky. In the end of Part III the narrative vocals come back adding new evocative images... You'll sleepwalk on beaten tracks along your old steps, past and present will blur, forgotten lives and lost memories will come back, you'll live new passions and abandons... Classical inspired piano patterns are intertwined with psychedelic parts, dark organ rides alternates with brighter musical colours but the mix is always well balanced and never boring. The instrumental Part IV concludes the suite in a crescendo of positive energy... You're going to wake up!

On the whole, a very good album made to stir your imagination

You can listen to the complete album in streaming HERE

Il Giardino Onirico: Complesso K MMXIII (2013). Other opinions:

Michael Aussie-Byrd-Brother: This talented group of musicians have now released two top-notch albums in a row, and `Complesso K MMXIII' shows just how much potential the band still has, while also hinting at many exciting directions they can go on future releases. Never so dark to be pitch-black and overwhelming, always with an atmospheric and thoughtful edge, Il Giardino Onirico perfectly balance frenetic energy with subtle and delicate touches, and their music is always endlessly melodic. They deliver heavy colourful instrumental arrangements played with skill and precision, and heavy prog and space-rock fans should really investigate the band right away... (read the complete review HERE)

More info:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Il-Giardino-Onirico/375866180145 

A GARDEN OF DREAMS

Il Giardino Onirico (the name means “the oneiric garden”) began life in Civita Castellana, in the province of Viterbo, in 2008. The original nucleus was formed by four musicians coming from different musical experiences and with different backgrounds: Emanuele “Vastitas” Telli (keyboards), Stefano Avigliana (guitar), Ettore Mazzarini (bass) and Massimo Moscatelli (drums). In 2009 Dariush Hakim (keyboards, effects) joined the band and with this line up Il Giardino Onirico self-released a first demo EP featuring a long suite titled “Il complesso K”. Later the line up was completed by Marco Marini, poet, painter and photographer who provided the lyrics, the narrative vocals and the art cover for the first full length album of the band, “Perigeo”, that was released in 2012, after a long studio work. According to the band, their aim was to create a “fleeting, schizophrenic fantasy” and conjure up an oneiric dimension where the listener could get lost in a world of dreams and nightmares. In my opinion the result of their efforts is very good!



Il Giardino Onirico in their recording studio


Every track is introduced by a short narrative part that could recall Pholas Dactylus but after awhile the music takes over and all that you have to do is close your eyes and set your imagination free. “There are more and more things around me / Or maybe it's just me who can perceive a changed reality / I can see me transformed, I'm changed / I recognize every lost moment, every faded control...”. I suppose that the title of the opener “B.S.D.” is an acronym for Brain Stem Death (in the booklet there is no explanation of what B.S.D. is for), a clinical syndrome defined by the absence of reflexes with pathways through the brain stem in a deeply comatose, ventilator-dependent, patient. Identification of this state carries a very grave prognosis for survival, cessation of heartbeat often occurring within a few days although it may continue for weeks or even months if intensive support is maintained... The music flows with many changes in mood and rhythm, there are some heavy, aggressive sections and some amazing dreamy passages characterized by the beautiful soprano voice of the guest Elisabetta Marchetti, here used just as an instrument. “Wait a minute and then you'll discover things that can't be described...”.

The following track, “Utopia Planitia”, takes you on a long trip through time and space... “I get a bit closer and I know that I'm alone now / I get rid of discomfort and I change again... I can't realize how much time I have erased / Every resistance vanishes / I set off on a journey that leads me to the limits of reality...”. The pace is slow, the atmosphere is tense and full of expectations, dark organ rides and spacey electric guitar solos make you cross the doors of perception and you can fly over the dark side of the moon... By the way, Utopia Planitia is the name of the largest recognized impact basin on Mars and in the solar system and is the Martian region where the Viking 2 lander touched down on September 3, 1976.



Perigeo: art cover


“Agosto” (August) is brighter, the rhythm rises again but the journey is still full of surprises... “I frequently try but it's stronger than me / I'm biding my time in ambush to destroy the falsity of those gruesome acts that project misery on me...”. Next come the disquieting, restless “Amigdala” evoking greedy joy and criminal fears, incurable sadness and bully vengeance. The amygdalae are almond-shaped groups of nuclei located deep within the medial temporal lobes of the brain that perform a primary role in the processing of memory and emotional reactions... “At first it seems unimportant / Then, suddenly it becomes powerful...”.

The ethereal title track, “Perigeo” (Perigee), concludes the album. Back to earth! “The scents of paradise evaporate into the night / Your shadow mirrors on me as if it was not real / A perverse game creeps along the streets that lead nowhere...”. Here the music every now and again recall Alan Parsons Project and the beautiful voice of Elisabetta Marchetti comes back. Well, the perigee is the closest point to the centre of the earth in a satellite's elliptical path and once the satellite has reached that point it leaves again. You left on a long journey and you can't come back, everything has changed, you're living now in a never ending dream and you have lost the touch with reality... “It had to happen, sooner or later / I woke up and I couldn't recognize myself any more...”. Well, now you are ready for another spin!

You can listen to the complete album on YouTube, so have a try! If you like it, you can purchase the physical copy directly from the band.

More info:

http://www.myspace.com/ilgiardinoonirico

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Il-Giardino-Onirico/375866180145

LAZIO (part 3)

Well, the current Roman prog scene features also some bands trying to blend music and cinema in their live shows. RanestRane (MySpace) were formed in 1996 with the goal to compose and perform a “rock-opera”. The band chose a famous Werner Herzog film, “Nosferatu The Vampyre”, and commented it with music and original lyrics. They started their live activity in 2000 and conceived their shows as a “cine-concerto”, with the images of Werner Herzog’s film flowing in the background. In 2006 they released their rock opera on a self-produced studio double album and at the moment they are working on a new “cine-concerto” inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s film “Shining”. RanestRane’s multi-instrumentalist and composer Riccardo Romano also started a melodic progressive side project called Maredelnord (MySpace). Another local band performing “cine-concerti” is Memoria (MySpace), that was formed in 1991. In 2004 they tried to comment with notes and words Ridley Scott’s film Blade Runner, from the science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. Memoria’s bass player Gianfranco Vigneri is also involved in another melodic prog rock project called Colmena (MySpace).

In Rome there are many pubs and venues where you can attend prog rock concerts, but at least two in particular deserve a mention, Stazione Birra and Crossroads. Among the many Roman emerging bands and artist in my opinion worthy of mention are, in no particular order, Ederadirame (MySpace), La Bocca della Verità (Facebook), La Stanza dei Sogni (Facebook), La Danza dei Fauni (MySpace), Lineateorica (MySpace), Progetto Esperia (MySpace), Il Cavallo di Don Juan (MySpace), Simposio d’Agosto (MySpace), KeyBridge (MySpace), Echoesthree (MySpace), Layra (MySpace), Ampio Spettro (MySpace), No Disc (MySpace), Gandalf's Project (MySpace), Seventh Will (MySpace), Ingranaggi della Valle (MySpace), Neroieri (MySpace), Turbo Elephant Project (MySpace), Master of Ceremony (MySpace), Effetto Catherine (MySpace), Grendel (MySpace), Vendetta di Montezuma (Facebook), Praeludium (My-Space), Fausto Bisantis (MySpace), Nogales (MySpace), Inior (Facebook - formerly Apple Device - Facebook), Arvalia (MySpace), Overfourteen (Official Website), Civico 23 (Reverbnation), Sunday Recovery (Reverbnation), Amministrazione Caos Popolare (Facebook), Macroscream (MySpace), Tiresia Raptus (Facebook), Idee Confuse (MySpace), Camelias Garden (Reverbnation), Sailor Free (Official Website), Afasia (Facebook), Laviàntica (Facebook), La Fabbrica dell'Assoluto (Facebook), Masquerade (Facebook) Over Waking Life (Facebook), Venus's Delight (Facebook), So Does Your Mother (Facebook), Lateral Blast (Facebook) and Alchimia (MySpace).

The best known experimental post metal bands from Rome are probably Novembre (MySpace) and Zu (MySpace). By the way, members of Zu are also involved in a completely different project that might be of some interest to prog lovers, the folk oriented Ardecore (Official Website). For post rock lovers there are AIIR (MySpace), Il Silenzio di Ghisa (MySpace) and La Seconda Eclisse (Facebook) while jazz rock lovers might well be interested in Anagramma (MySpace), Reagente 6 (Facebook), Dumbo Station (Facebook), Circolo Culturale Federico Magnani (MySpace), Garuà (MySpace), Worldream (MySpace), Virtual Dream (MySpace), Quartech (MySpace) and Staralfur (MySpace).

On the prog folk side there are the committed folk rocker influenced by prog Enrico Capuano (MySpace), then guitarist and composer Pasqualino Ubaldini (MySpace) and some bands as Ypsos (Bandcamp), Pentamerone (Bandcamp), Stilema XXI (MySpace), Arabeski Rock (MySpace), Sequoia Bisquits (MySpace) and Verbamanent (MySpace). Folk prog lovers will probably also appreciate Giulia Tripoti (MySpace) an interesting and eclectic female singer-songwriter in love with experiments and musical blending. She’s involved as a vocalist and songwriter in many projects such as the progressive-literary Beta Elements (MySpace), the ethno folk Terramaris (MySpace) and the post-rock alternative Blumenberg 67 (MySpace).

Last but not least Marco Lo Muscio (Official Website), a classical organist and pianist with a strong passion for prog who re-arranged and interpreted some prog classics for organ and piano solo. He also recorded some albums featuring original tracks that should be of some interest to prog lovers. His last album The Book Of Bilbo And Gandalf features guest stars such as Steve Hackett, John Hackett and Pär Lind.

Anyway Lazio is not only Rome. There are prog bands also in the other towns of the surroundings such as The Balmung (MySpace) from Mentana, Cambio della Guardia (Facebook) from Fiano Romano, La Sfera (MySpace) and La Sezione 8 (Facebook) from Velletri, Falena (MySpace) from Rocca di Papa, Protean Circus (Facebook) from Colleferro, Le Maschere Vuote (MySpace) from Cerveteri, Castle Fusion (Facebook) from Ostia, Nemesis (Facebook) from Civitavecchia, VZ69 (MySpace) and La N.A.V.E. (Facebook) from Tivoli and Lily Alice (MySpace) from Anzio. North of Rome, in VITERBO, which in the seventies gave us Blocco Mentale, we can now listen to some emerging bands as Cinetica (Facebook) and Archaeopteryx (MySpace) and an experimental project called La Guerra delle Formiche (MySpace) while Civita Castellana.is home to Il Giardino Onirico (Facebook). South of Rome, in LATINA we can listen to the neo prog Mytho (ReverbNation), then Clan Banlieue (MySpace), La Quinta Armonia (Facebook) and Mururoa (MySpace) while the near town of Formia is home to En Taro Adun (Facebook). East of Latina lies FROSINONE where we can listen to a folk rock project called Musicisti del Basso Lazio (MySpace) that recently released an interesting album called Terra di fuoco, while Sora is home to the jazz-rock Mobius Strip (Facebook).

We conclude our visit to Lazio in the province of RIETI, east of Rome. Here we find a band called Novalia (Official Website) that were formed 1985 on the initiative of multi-instrumentalists Raffaello Simeoni and Stefano Saletti. Their music features strong Mediterranean influences and should be of some interest to prog folk lovers. Raffaello Simeoni (MySpace) has also released two solo albums and is involved in some side projects. Stefano Saletti (MySpace) has released some solo works too and he’s also involved in another interesting folk project called Piccola Banda Ikona (MySpace).