L'OMBRA DELLA SERA
L'OMBRA DELLA SERA

SOMETIMES THEY COME BACK. FRAGMENTS OF THE PAST BOUNCING MOCKINGLY.

WE ARE ON SEVENTIES COORDINATES. IT'S SUNDAY, PRIME TIME, AND RAI IS SHOWCASING ONE OF ITS NOIR-TINTED DRAMAS, OBVIOUSLY IN BLACK AND WHITE, STRICTLY FIRST TV CHANNEL. FOOD FOR MILLIONS OF NOVICE USERS OF THIS TYPE OF ENTERTAINMENT IN FRONT OF THE SMALL SCREEN.

L'OMBRA DELLA SERA IS A PROJECT BY THE DEMIURGE FABIO ZUFFANTI, ASSISTED BY FAITHFUL COMPANIONS AGOSTINO MACOR AND MAURIZIO DI TOLLO (PLUS OTHER GUESTS/COLLABORATORS) TO REDISCOVER THE FABULOUS WORLD OF 60s/70s ITALIAN CINEMA SOUNDTRACKS.

THE HOMONYM TITLE REFERS TO AN ETRUSCAN ARTIFACT, HUMANOID IN APPEARANCE, WHICH, WITH ITS ENIGMATIC GAZE, SEEMS TO ASK WHO WE ARE, WHERE WE COME FROM. THE MESSAGE ARRIVES PRECISELY LIKE A DART SHOT FROM AN ANCIENT ERA.

THE WORK OF OURS IS EXCELLENT WITH CONVINCING CALLIGRAPHIC ARRANGEMENTS THAT ENRICH THE MOTHER WORKS WITH A NEW VITALITY, WITHOUT, IF ANYTHING, LOSING IN CHARM AND FRESHNESS.

THE MUSICAL THEMES VENTURE INTO JAZZ-ROCK TERRITORIES, OFTEN WITH AIRY AND LIGHT LINES, THEN LAUNCH INTO ACIDIC EXPLOSIONS WITH ECHOES A LA KING CRIMSON AND MOMENTS OF PURE GENERATOR. A SPARKLING MIX OF PROG REVISITED AND REINTERPRETED IN LIGHT OF VINTAGE SOUNDS MIXED WITH ELECTRONIC.

IN THE FIRST TRACK ("GAMMA"), THE OPENING IS A MONOLOGUE OF SYNTH AND MELLOTRON EFFECTS THAT, AFTER SINISTER VOCALIZATIONS, TURN TO MORE PSYCHEDELIC SOLUTIONS. THEN MOVES TO "RITRATTO DI DONNA VELATA" WITH A JAZZY-SCENTED INCIPIT SUPPORTED BY IVORY KEYS, A GLOCKSPIEL, AND LATER BY BRASS. THE SYNCOPATED TIMES ("LA TRACCIA VERDE") ANNOUNCE PATHS WHERE KEYBOARDS AND BRASS SEEM TO CHASE EACH OTHER, STRUCTURING AND RE-STRUCTURING A FABRIC WITH FUNKY/JAZZ FEATURES, THEN ARRIVE AT MORE SYMPHONIC SOLUTIONS ("IL SEGNO DEL COMANDO"). HERE THE LONG FLUTE INTRODUCTION PREFACES A HIGHLY EVOCATIVE AND TOUCHING VOCAL LINE. BUT IT IS WITH THE 18 MINUTES OF THE FINAL EFFORT ("HO INCONTRATO UN'OMBRA") THAT THE MOST AMBITIOUS MOMENT OF THE ENTIRE ALBUM IS CAUGHT, WHICH REEMERGES FUTURISTIC PROG ARCHEOLOGIES TO EMPHASIZE ONCE AGAIN THE EXCELLENCE OF THIS PROPOSAL.

THE STUNNING INITIAL SAX, WITH ITS STAGGERING AND SUSPENDED PACE, EVOKES THE EPHEMERAL FLAVOR OF A "NON-MEETING" (REREADING WHAT IS EXPLICITLY SUGGESTED BY THE GOTHIC AND UNSETTLING CHARACTER OF THE COVER). THE TEMPERATURE RISES RAPIDLY, ALMOST TO GAIN COURAGE, TRANSFORMING THE SOUND MAGMA INTO INCANDESCENT LAVA WHERE EACH INSTRUMENT SEEMS TO FOLLOW ITS OWN LINE IN DISSONANCE WITH THE OTHERS IN THE BACKDROP OF A FOAMING, ALMOST ABRASIVE MELLOTRON.

THE CHAOS IS ONLY APPARENT UNTIL IT SCULPTS AND REMODELS THE INITIAL THEME WITH ANGRY SPLASHES INSIDE EVER MORE NIHILISTIC AND DARKER MISTS. EVERYTHING SEEMS TO SPIRAL INTO A FRANTIC CIRCUIT WITH FERINE SOBS AND MOOD SWINGS WHILE DISTORTED CHORUSES AND MOANS MAKE THEIR APPEARANCE ON THE AMPLIFIED SIX STRINGS.

THEN IT'S THE TURN OF FLUTE AND SAX, WHICH UNRAVEL INTO EBULLIENT TWIRLS OF FENDER AND GLITTERING NOTES OF BASS, SUSTAINED BY AN OBSESSIVE AND FRAGMENTED PERCUSSIVE MOTION, THAT MISTREATS THE SKINS AND WHIPS THE CYMBALS.

IT IS A HARMONIC UNICUM THAT LEAVES ONE BREATHLESS UNTIL IT BRINGS US BACK TO THE INITIAL, LIBERATING, AND REASSURING REFRAIN, ALMOST WHISPERED NOW BY THE MELANCHOLIC NOTES OF THE RHODES.

THROUGH THIS ANABASIS, EVERY ACCENT, EVERY INSIGHT, FORMS FIGURES IN THE DARKNESS.

FLASHES OF SERENITY SOMETIMES WRIGGLE AMID THE GROOVES OF MUDDY MOODS, AND MEMORIES OF ECHOES PENETRATE THE CATHARTIC HUMUS IN PERPETUAL HARMONIC OSCILLATION BETWEEN PRESENT AND RETRO.

THIS IS THE SPACE WHERE CHIAROSCURO, THE REAL WORLD OF TONES AND SEMITONES OR THE FANTASTIC WORLD OF OPALESCENT SUNSETS AND BARE SKIES TO WHICH SINGLE NOTES CHANGE, INTO CHORDS OF LIGHT, THE ENGULFING SHADOWS OF THE EVENING.

THE WORK, IN PERFECT TUNE WITH THE DARK MOVIES IT FEEDS ON, IS IMBUED WITH AN ALMOST SICKLY UNDERLYING PESSIMISM THAT GROWS INTO A SURREAL VISUAL/ACOUSTIC ALPHABET, SUBLIMATED BY THE CHILLING MASTERPIECE, DEPICTED ON THE BACK COVER, REPRESENTING "L'APOTEOSE OF WAR" BY VASILY VERESHCHAGIN.

BUT THAT IS ANOTHER STORY.

(UITO)