The Sonora Pine
II

Those 40 kilometers that separate Salò from Riva are one of the best views that the province of Brescia (and not only) can offer to an attentive and curious traveler. Behind every curve, between tunnels, beyond the historic villas, a thousand postcards are hidden colored by the deep blue of the lake, the intense green of the Alto Garda Park, the purple spots of tropical bougainvilleas, and the silvery green of the olive groves.

Everything changes in an instant; it's a slow and unpredictable journey like the awkward ballads of The Sonora Pine, yet another masterpiece group born from the incredible musical explosion of Louisville - Kentucky in the early nineties. Former Rodan Tara Jane O'Neil on bass (her solo career is also remarkable) and Kevin Coultas on drums are accompanied by the minimalist violin of Samara Lubelski.

Theirs is a music of great class, classic 90s post-rock, narcotizing and very low fidelity. In the seven tracks, sounds and silences alternate and complement each other, the violin offers passages without head or tail, the slow propositions wrap around themselves, they are melancholic wanderings without any destination, barely sketched musical doodles.

"II" from 1997 is a perfect album to listen to in moments of emptiness, perhaps lulled by the sway of a hammock or the continuous rocking of a small boat. It's a work that leaves very few escape routes; rare are the bursts that will give you the strength to get up and open another beer or retrieve something to smoke.

Music that can offer sweet well-being and blissful sadness but also underlying anxieties or dramatic uncertainties. Static music without spatial and temporal references, a sonic bubble in which one might find it curious to immerse. Like moving freely in that pre-Alpine section overlooking the lake... like that strange feeling of nausea that the fear of emptiness can bring, knowing well that sometimes letting go could be the most beautiful thing in the world.