Univers Zero
Clivages

Since I had the opportunity to review Univers Zero's first album, I'm now about to introduce you to their latest work, "Clivages."

On one hand, my intention is to close a circle, but on the other, I would like to invite all connoisseurs to talk more about this extraordinary ensemble and the RIO movement in general. Aware that some de-users might do it better than me, I feel it's important to highlight how often we are tempted to describe extremely unique and rare albums, almost to fulfill a certain narcissism and neglect musical realities that are very well known to us but ignored by many other potential admirers. I would like to remind how much we, lovers of boundary-crossing music, owe to this movement and how underrepresented it is on the site.

Why then? Could it be that Univers Zero is not well known? Maybe, given that some dare to write that Pink Floyd should be reevaluated.

Could their offering be too daring, too difficult? Yet Henry Cow is much more well-known and certainly not more accessible.

Could they be too obscure, too dark? And who would they scare? The lovers of apocalyptic folk or Scandinavian black metal?

Or could it be that I'm being narcissistic? Why should others like them? Just because I do?

Univers Zero has maintained a unique style for 34 years with exemplary consistency, always producing works of high quality, regardless of trends and years. Not even the split that occurred after the release of the dark, challenging, and fascinating "Heretic," which saw the exit of Roger Trigaux, took anything away from the Univers Zero universe. Instead, it gave them a twin brother called Present, a magnificent creature, the closest ever to their style.

And so, listening to a Univers Zero album from 2010 touches me deeply, conveying the obsessive love for music from a creature that managed to perfectly summarize two worlds so far apart: 20th-century chamber music, accompanied by the disintegration of the sense of beauty in tonality and harmony, and the simplicity and dynamics of rock.

Univers Zero is a giant with a heavy step and delicate actions, rough but with a gentle and refined soul, who consoles its anguish by writing, during its solitary nights, the soundtrack of its own nightmares.

Listen to it at twilight in this decaying Italian autumn, let the giant touch your soul.