PERICOPES +1 - Up
Losen: LOS225-2
Emiliano Vernizzi: tenor saxophone, electronics; Alessandro Sgobbio: piano, Fender Rhodes, electronics; Nick Wight: drums
with
Anna Apollonio: violin; Giulia Pontarolo: violin; Margherita Cossio: viola; Andre Musto: ‘cello
Recorded by Stefano Amerio in July 2019 at Artesuono Recording Studios, Cavalicco, Italy
As this is their third outing, you would have thought that they would have ditched the ‘+1’ from their name and admitted Wight as a full member of the band. Perhaps this is going to be a long-running joke, like whether Ronnie Wood is a full member of the Rolling Stones yet. Given that each member is based in a different country (Paris, Milan, New York), they have toured together extensively in the past year. There is very much a sense that this is a set of pieces that have been well-drilled on the road, with the delicate interplay between instruments that was a hallmark of their previous albums being even more ambitious in the varied rhythms and undulating tunes.
The album’s title might be referring, literally, to Space – with ‘Disco Gagarin’ (track 3) and ‘Earth’s shape’ (track 4). Given the photograph on the album’s cover (with a boy resting his arm on an Evil Knieval helmet and a small rocket next to him), this is a reasonable assumption. The first of these has a splendidly frenetic pace to it, dodging in and out of different rhythms, while the second has an elegiac majesty fitting to its title; with hints of electronica to carry a ‘space age’ feel, and the string section adding elegance and gravity. Another sense in which the title might allude to movement away from the earth, is the title of track 2, ‘Urconia’ – a word that I wasn’t familiar with (and I’m always grateful for people who introduce new words to me), it refers to that genre of literature which reimagines alternate histories, where time splits from an event that might have occurred to create parallel contemporary world. The tune itself has a neat structure that feels as if it is gradually being constructed and then unravelled over the course of its six and half minutes before the playout has band talking, playing snatches of the next track and then laughing maniacally. The sense of an alternate reality can also be found in ‘Sultans of Swing’, which closes the album and is the trios first recorded cover version. Well, ‘cover version’ might be pushing the description a bit because the recording here is many miles removed from the Dire Straits original – firstly, it is slowed to a gentle walking pace, secondly, it seems to be using the chords as a scaffold for a tune that is vaguely related to the playout of the original tune (rather than verse, chorus or solos that would be recognisable). Having said that, the piece is beautifully played. But, just in case, you feel that this makes the band overly serious, they play the Bevis and Butthead line ‘I am the Great Cornholio’ as the track fades. So, with their humour intact, their loves of all manner of musical styles perfectly mixed and their understanding of each other to the fore, this album charts the continued rise of a marvellous trio. Highly recommended.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Losen: LOS225-2
Emiliano Vernizzi: tenor saxophone, electronics; Alessandro Sgobbio: piano, Fender Rhodes, electronics; Nick Wight: drums
with
Anna Apollonio: violin; Giulia Pontarolo: violin; Margherita Cossio: viola; Andre Musto: ‘cello
Recorded by Stefano Amerio in July 2019 at Artesuono Recording Studios, Cavalicco, Italy
As this is their third outing, you would have thought that they would have ditched the ‘+1’ from their name and admitted Wight as a full member of the band. Perhaps this is going to be a long-running joke, like whether Ronnie Wood is a full member of the Rolling Stones yet. Given that each member is based in a different country (Paris, Milan, New York), they have toured together extensively in the past year. There is very much a sense that this is a set of pieces that have been well-drilled on the road, with the delicate interplay between instruments that was a hallmark of their previous albums being even more ambitious in the varied rhythms and undulating tunes.
The album’s title might be referring, literally, to Space – with ‘Disco Gagarin’ (track 3) and ‘Earth’s shape’ (track 4). Given the photograph on the album’s cover (with a boy resting his arm on an Evil Knieval helmet and a small rocket next to him), this is a reasonable assumption. The first of these has a splendidly frenetic pace to it, dodging in and out of different rhythms, while the second has an elegiac majesty fitting to its title; with hints of electronica to carry a ‘space age’ feel, and the string section adding elegance and gravity. Another sense in which the title might allude to movement away from the earth, is the title of track 2, ‘Urconia’ – a word that I wasn’t familiar with (and I’m always grateful for people who introduce new words to me), it refers to that genre of literature which reimagines alternate histories, where time splits from an event that might have occurred to create parallel contemporary world. The tune itself has a neat structure that feels as if it is gradually being constructed and then unravelled over the course of its six and half minutes before the playout has band talking, playing snatches of the next track and then laughing maniacally. The sense of an alternate reality can also be found in ‘Sultans of Swing’, which closes the album and is the trios first recorded cover version. Well, ‘cover version’ might be pushing the description a bit because the recording here is many miles removed from the Dire Straits original – firstly, it is slowed to a gentle walking pace, secondly, it seems to be using the chords as a scaffold for a tune that is vaguely related to the playout of the original tune (rather than verse, chorus or solos that would be recognisable). Having said that, the piece is beautifully played. But, just in case, you feel that this makes the band overly serious, they play the Bevis and Butthead line ‘I am the Great Cornholio’ as the track fades. So, with their humour intact, their loves of all manner of musical styles perfectly mixed and their understanding of each other to the fore, this album charts the continued rise of a marvellous trio. Highly recommended.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
