Tuxedomoon
Bardo Hotel Soundtrack

It was just yesterday that I received the promotional copy of "Bardo Hotel Soundtrack," the new album by Tuxedomoon, of whose release I was unaware. Before starting to review the work, I would like to briefly introduce this talented American group.

With S. Brown (clarinet, programming, and wind instruments), B. Reininger (violins and strings), and P. Principle (bass and guitar), Tuxedomoon was born at the end of the '70s, one of the most important "names" for both America and Europe. Tuxedomoon, therefore, is more than a group; it is an artistic movement that merges into theater, music, and abstract art. The same trio, at the twilight of the seventies (79-80), would give rise to one of the most important revolutions in music with "Half Mute" (for which I recommend reading the review here on Debaser).

The artistic and intellectual project of Tuxedomoon continues to this day. "Bardo Hotel" is one of the most beautiful works of 2006, opening immediately with a minimalist phrasing ("Hurry Up And Wait", "Effervescing in the Nether Sphere"), but the martial rhythms and dissonances of Brown's saxophone envelop the listener in a fragile delirium of bewilderment. It feels like you've lost your mind in this "urban city" that Tuxedomoon limits to painting with their instruments ("Soup Du Jour"). "Flying Again" is instead a psychedelic dance for saxophone and programming, definitely preludes to "Tryptych"; slow and dark, this piece is nothing but a perfect dance between strings, saxophone, and electronic programming.
The work also leaves room for inner monologues ("I'm real Stupid", "Needles Prelude") and for experiments between blues ("Airport Blues") and lyrical singing ("Prometheus Bound"). "The Show Goes on" encloses three tracks divided among them: "Baron Brown" entertaining phrasing with Croatian music and the already known "Jinx" and "Loneliness". Echoes of Miles Davis and Wim Mertens are evident in tracks like "Remote" and "More Flying".

During this long journey full of darkness and urban fog, the listener is mesmerized by the Bardo Hotel, an inferno of often conflicting emotions, sparkling in the notes of Tuxedomoon. Brown's sax is thus a faint speaker accompanying the moribund dances of Reininger, the violins and strings are indeed the keys to delirium and beauty. Here's the Tuxedomoon sound rediscovering, in cacophonous passages, the beauty and romance of art; Art that in "Bardo Hotel" does not hide behind gold or ivory frames but rather behind dirty and lined glass. "Vulcanic Combustible" is the sixteenth track of the album, this wonderful suite of 11 minutes demonstrates the perfection achieved by the individual members, the sound of marine drops combined with the "tears" of the violins creates an intense apnea of feelings that grips the listener until the last minute.

"Mr. Comfort" and "Another Flight" are both short recited monologues that then give way to "Invocation of", the perfect backdrop for an American nightclub. "Carry On Circles" is the closing track, perhaps the one with the strongest classical roots, scales for sax and piano meet in a sweet embrace of passion and serenity, with which this fabulous work concludes. Recommended for those who particularly loved 'Half Mute', 'Divine', and 'The Ghost Sonata'.