240bpm
Welcome

How would Pink Floyd sound in Salerno? "Welcome" is a visionary album, and we realize it already from the cover, which takes up the historic image of the flying pig over the chimneys of London's Battersea Power Station immortalized on Pink Floyd's Animals. The reference is clear, evident like the parallel created between the proto-industrial structure of the English metropolis and that of the Antonio Amato pasta factory in Salerno, the hometown of Vincenzo Lardo, known as 240bpm. The multi-instrumentalist guitarist from Salerno tried to imagine how his songs would sound by arranging them inspired by the British masters of psychedelia and progressive music. In particular, 240bpm is strongly influenced by David Gilmour, as can be noted from the first guitar notes that majestically stand out among synth carpets from the very first track, which gives the album its title: Welcome, indeed: welcome to the world of 240bpm! Even the lyrics of this first song show their debt, as they draw on Floydian lyrics re-assembled with the cutting technique. The atmosphere is dark and dreamlike, epic and psychedelic. The sounds are perfectly in style and show the enormous care devoted to sound research. Every single detail fits perfectly and contributes to making this album a beautiful tribute/non-tribute to Floydian music, while still maintaining its specificity and originality. 240bpm manages to make us feel at home, and for this, it greets us by welcoming us into a dystopian world, where emotions are crystallized, metaphysical. This is the meaning of the Tagore quote that introduces the third track: Forever. The melody and lyrics create a kaleidoscope of epochs that repropose themselves endlessly, in a circular time that praises the eternity of every single gesture. 4 lines alternates essential lyrics with tense guitars, counterpointed by scratches and blues scales that move in 7/8 to describe an always imperfect search for spirituality, between two suns burning in an immobile and leaden sky from which to flee in search of oneself and the only flame that burns in the soul. In The Right Mood, on the other hand, paints a peaceful and relaxed, acoustic and dreamy scenario. A moment of breath that opens the soul through the sounds of acoustic guitars played in open tuning and with the slide in a bucolic setting. Black Saturns is a piece about spleen, about melancholy. It tells the story of a descent into the infernal depths of the soul. Like a modern alchemist in search of the philosopher's stone, 240bpm tries to transform the darkness of the lead of existence into gold. The progressive suite titled after seagulls (Seagull Suite) hardly opens with Atom#1 before echoes from the past emerge. They are haunting and evocative voices that counterpoint the final fragments of a hydrogen Floydian juke-box at the end of the album. They often shift perspective, letting fragments of songs constructed with evocative and pressing sounds rain down. Modern Forniture calls into the arena Sir George Orwell himself, who with his phlegmatic voice introduces a rock saraband that preludes the album finale. The last track is an explicit homage: a cover of On The Run enriched with new sounds that blend with the notes of the EMS Synthi AKS. What else to add? Welcome is a real psychedelic journey, a sparkling album full of cues. Not to be missed.

"Neither styles, nor works, nor individuals discover their true core by chiseling away stylistic survivals, inveterate usages, social imitations.

Style is built on a preceding style. The work is elaborated through the works it imitates. The individual transforms into a person thanks to the influences it absorbs. Authenticity is not the simple expression of a nature but the conquest of a meaning."

- Nicolás Gómez Dávila -

Vincenzo Lardo A.K.A. 240bpm - Voice, guitars, synthesizers, drums, samplers, composition, and execution of all tracks.

Visit the official website: http://240bpmwelcome.jimdo.com/

Official YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdCsJtrFgH3RW8FiYvRknpQ

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/UddAFDaYlCM.