ACQUA FRAGILE – A New Chant
Esoteric Antenna 2017
“The need for a mild revenge” brings Italian art-rock mavericks back for
a final blow.
Not content
with keeping a solid position in the footnote of Apennine music’s annals, this
ensemble found another fount of creativity on the other side of millennial
divide and returned with, arguably, their finest work, giving a warped
continuity to the band’s two classic albums. The group stopped after 1974’s
“Mass-Media Stars” when Bernardo Lanzetti jumped ship to sweeten
"Chocolate Kings" for P.F.M., but it’s like there hasn’t been a
43-year hiatus, as neither the singer nor the rhythm section of Piero Canavera
and Franz Dondi show any wear ‘n’ tear.
They may be
prone to a certain self-criticism, yet it doesn’t get in the way of vim and
doesn’t affect their burning ambition. The folk-stricken “My Forte” – the
strength which, the veterans admit, is to surrender – sends a piano ripple
across triumphant strings, while the effusive vocals – deepened, not withered
by the passage of time – stage an ever-expanding, dramatic performance on
oratorio scale, whereas “Rain Drops” is wrapping Peter Sinfield lyrical miniature
in operatic, orchestral awe. Grandiosity isn’t a thing here, though, what with
Animoog revving and multiplying its harmonic assault to lend “Wear Your Car
Proudly” a modern, if dipped in art-rock tradition, edge and let sharp riffs
define a danger.
The
incantation of “All Rise” turning into a speedy romp through cosmic landscape
could work wonders live, yet the song sounds superficial on the album. It’s
balanced with a tender serenade “How Come” and the stately title composition
which floats through the fabric of years but, treading pop waters, “Tu Per
Lei”- the only number sung in Italian – holds a brass band march in its parade
to lead the listener towards a polyphonic anthem. Still, it’s “The Drowning”
that’s the passionate pivot of it all, a piece most impressively immersive when
the track’s tremulous balladry is swept away with a heavily rocking wave only
to be lifted by a hymnal chorus and taken beyond the horizon on a scorching
guitar solo.
This horizon
can be the last line for the ensemble, and if it’s so their comeback was worth
the effort.
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