Alan Sorrenti
Aria

A significant effort is required to fully immerse oneself in the debut work of the Neapolitan artist (of Welsh origin). “Aria” is a work that sounded out of time even in the year it was created, and today (if you actually listen to records, forget it), it requires a good dose of imagination, well-trained ears, and a large exercise of imagination. In short, you have to let yourself be carried away…

Side A of the vinyl is entirely occupied by the nearly twenty-minute suite that gives the title to the work, where Sorrenti constructs and develops a journey through different sections, linked together in a sublime manner, where the music goes from rarefied to liquid and then fluid, to then become sour and harden up to the painful resignation of the final seconds to emphasize the path of dematerialization, fusion, sublimation, and violent detachment from the natural element in which our protagonist experiences a fantastic adventure, rarely described so delicately, poetically, yet vigorously and realistically. Sorrenti's voice enters and exits the melodic and harmonic structures of the track like (and better than) an instrument, also giving us exercises in fiercely experimental style… with powerful vocalizations and surprising vibratos. Dreamlike dialogues with synthesizers, heated arguments with the marvelous violin of Jean Luc Ponty, and an innocent threesome with acoustic guitars mark the highest moments of the composition, culminating in the crescendo finale dictated by Tony Esposito's obsessive tribal rhythms and marked by the desperate will not to detach from the perfect lover just found. Side B opens with “Vorrei Incontrarti,” a soft ballad for voice and acoustic guitars, a track where Sorrenti seems to want to expand the artistic canons of the “pop” song, giving it a more experimental and research-oriented vision… an experiment that is expanded and “exasperated” in the more acidic “La Mia Mente,” where Albert Prince's mellotron gives a more decadent soul to the work; while the trumpet incursions of André Lajdli underline the more intimate character of the concluding “Un Fiume Tranquillo,” nestled on the waves created by keyboards and synthesizers.

Many have compared this debut of Alan Sorrenti to the more experimental works of Tim Buckley or the complex harmonies developed by Van Der Graaf Generator, and certainly, “Aria” is contemporary with the more refined works of Italian prog, while being light-years away… but I believe this is one of those records that completely transcend labels or the time in which they were conceived.

“Aria” is certainly one of the highest points reached by Italian singer-songwriter Art. Of all time.