Julie's Haircut
Our Secret Ceremony

"Confessions of a Staunch Foreignophile"

Being a foreignophile is quite a beast. It makes you culturally snobbish and dangerously similar to any bumpkin who sees all "foreigners" as delinquents. To be honest, one should avoid forming ideas/opinions tied to a futile and outdated concept like nationality, which can now comfortably be relegated to "bar chat" topics, like soccer. For me, it would be enough if so many aspects of present-day Italy and its population didn't make me cringe, and I could finally free myself from the blinders of "beautiful-because-it-comes-from-abroad".

For now, a little help is coming from the latest production by the Emilians Julie's Haircut, a small revolution in my limited Italian discography. Hardly ever noticed in the past, I observed a sharp turn towards kraut-psychedelic shores during a concert a couple of years ago, but I didn't delve deeper. Then, by chance, I received the double (beautiful) vinyl of "Our Secret Ceremony" as a gift, and boy, did it open up a whole new world!

Whether it's due to an insane desire for nationalist redemption, the contextual charm of the vinyl object, or the actual quality and quantity of the offering, this record has been monopolizing my listening for a month. A rarity these days, needless to say.

Divided into two parts (Sermons and Liturgy), "Our Secret Ceremony" marks a point of no return in Julie's musical journey. Some might consider it pretentious, given its monstrous length, and to be objective, there are a couple of lengthy parts, but that's precisely where the beauty and the core of the record lie. Letting go without worrying too much about song structure or duration, playing what we like, how we like it. Take it or leave it. I've more than taken it; I've been "taken" by it.

Generally speaking, Sermons contains the "normal" tracks, distinguished by excellent hypnotic rhythms à la NEU! ("The Shadow, Our Home", a great track, by the way), cavernous bass grooves ("The Devil In Kate Moss"), synthetic visions reminiscent of Blonde Redhead ("Mountain Tea Traders"). An honorable mention goes to the long trip for guitar, Wurlitzer, and other analog trinkets of "Origins", and to the wonderful "Mean Affair", caught between the "Funhouse"-like vibe (the song), and the free jazz flutter of organ and sax.

Decidedly freer and more reflective is the liturgical part. A risky tribute to an old-fashioned way of doing psychedelia, entirely centered around keyboards, organ, and Moog, but which ends up enchanting precisely because it's atypical and, if not original, certainly courageous. Starting with the gelatinous "La macchina universale", passing through the hypnotic chanting of "Hidden Channels Of The Mind" and the jazz-prog under methadone of "Breakfast With The Lobster", leading to the intimate "They Came To Me", it's a slow descent into the mind's recesses, not necessarily dark nor overtly "avant", but naturally psychedelic, in the broadest sense of the term.

I don't know, to me, they monstrously remind me of mid-'90s Motorpsycho, I hope Giulia takes it as a compliment...