Rattsburg 2018
Monty
Nothing is impossible for one who’s ready to go all the way and make a strange land his own.
“I don’t wanna be the one to be hauled,” goes one of rare English lines on Emiliano Deferrari’s third longplay, yet the Italian multi-instrumentalist wouldn’t mind pulling the listener in the album’s alluring alloy of pompous pop and subtle, if inherently vigorous and sometimes vane, avant-garde. From loops and effects of “Aria” that, devoid of voice, seem to delicately defy its own title, to classical guitar lace on the record’s title track, natural and artificial sonics gel here to create a deliberately absurd experience, although repeated spins of this record may be rather rewarding.
Yes, “L’altroverso” would dips bel canto in scintillating wobble before swirling synthesizer’s wave around the number’s bass-worried harmonies and unhinged histrionics, but the brass-laden march of “Vuoto” is possessed with weird gravity, especially once the piece has gained pace and become glacial. While it takes fretless glide over four strings to “Get It Right” to arrange tribal polyphony which will be sacrificed to groovy electronica and seductive spank, just like retro croon of “White Life” will fall victim to taut theatricality, there’s a piano-led, predatory recital behind the pining “Essere” that’s progressively propelled by drums to a sweet nowhere without obvious melodic development.
Still, the vocal mannerisms of electrically charged “Ecco” get fed into blues whose soundscapes also house sax and violin, so traditional forms are never far from this record; so, blessed with danceable beats and arabesques, the beautifully stumbling “Fuoco” brings on the album’s finale in quite a logical fashion. Think of “Monty” as a crazy opera, and it’ll all make sense.
***1/3
