Moongarden
Songs From The Lighthouse

Ready, set, go, the intro, as dark as the title of the first track, "My Darkside" introduces us to the world of Moongarden, who I soon discover to be Italian, which leaves me pleasantly perplexed and more than satisfied. The first three tracks by - at this point, let's call them Moon Garden, are rare gems in Italian progressive and have nothing to envy from the more renowned colleagues around the world. That the band is appreciated abroad as well is demonstrated by the presence of Andy Tillson, vocalist of the so-called supergroup The Tangent in "That Child". Not bad at all.

The strength of the album and the band in general, decidedly complete and evolved compared to previous more 'cryptic' works, is their ability to range in prog without flattening on their own skills and therefore without spiraling inward: occasionally more aggressive, as in the opener, more psychedelic elsewhere, as in "Dreamlord", electroprog in " Sonya In The Search Of The Moon", more pop as in "Emotionaut", reflective in the instrumental "Flesh", carefree and vaguely country in "Southampton Railroad", perhaps the simplest track but one of the best. They manage to be everything, finally, in the closing track "The Lighthouse Song".

But the Moon Garden, besides all these beautiful little flowers irradiated by a light now sinister, now melancholic, have the voice of Simone Baldini Tosi, and the voice of Simone Baldini Tosi is something capable of conveying myriad different and all lethal emotions: vibrant, warm, husky, aggressive, sweet as honey, with numerous and very different arrows at its bow that unfailingly hit the target perfectly. And all one can do is stand in awe.

I would like to dwell on two tracks that are, in my opinion, above the norm. The second, "It’s you", sweet and at times poignant in the first part, aggressive but equally full of pathos in the second, where the voice vents its anger and drags us to the bottom, when a brief but impactful solo closes the matter. But the true masterpiece of the album is "Solaris", a 13-minute mini-suite divided into four parts, as was done in the good old days of Atom Heart Mother. The first four minutes return the tight-knit and powerful image of a mature group, which, even through skillful arrangements, supports Baldini Tosi's (at times lullaby-like) voice. But from minute 4 onwards, we are facing the masterpiece: what is called "Emotion", and we are talking about emotion transmitted through music, could not find a better definition in these ten minutes where you just have to sit, smoke a cigarette, stare at the horizon and remain silent or better, intone "Here I stay Here I go" as the vocalist sings (and enchants) us, making us tremble inside. And then, a vibrant solo, crescendoing to the end, a solo that I imagine to be the legitimate child of Gilmour, in sound and substance, and which has nothing to envy from Gilmour (my daddy, forgive me).

Highest rating for this album (from 2008), well-blended despite the presence of different styles and influences. Congratulations to these (no longer) young guys. To those who don't like the genre but love music, I can say not to miss tracks 2 and 3.