volcano!
Beautiful Seizure

Praise of Chaos

There is a law governing dynamic systems that exhibit an extremely complex structure, which appears to us as lacking any logic.
A slight variation in the initial conditions can change the entire structure, causing significant differences in its subsequent evolution, which cannot be entirely predicted.

This is, in short, the theory of chaos, and it is also the premise of the music by volcano!, a dimension where sonic anarchy reigns supreme. Anarchy not in the musical genre, mind you, the Chicago group offers a robust and already proven alternative rock with free-jazz and acoustic incursions; the anarchy is applied to the very concepts of rhythm, music, voice: everything is overturned, fixed rules no longer exist, the metric has been gently violated, the hendecasyllable now a banner of past centuries.

The tracks initially seem to us like a jumble of sounds, improbable highs of the singer in the grip of hysterical attacks and who harbors a spasmodic love for Thom Yorke or Jeff Buckley (in my opinion, it's a voice that can do anything), a mix of out-of-time drums and off-key chords.

After overcoming the first phase of (justified for weak and inexperienced ears) systematic rejection of this shaky sonic ensemble, we attempt a second listen.

Because this is a band that is not rewarded by inattentive and prejudiced listening. It's a band with enormous potential, making visionary, angry music that is highly out of the box.

The second listening is one of revelation: those musical abortions appear to us as gems, and we wonder why only now we can perceive such complex sonic constructions, difficult to decipher, sometimes disordered, but so full of allure.

I spoke of anarchy earlier: the tracks are so unpredictable, they deceive us with a noisy opening, on the verge of cacophony, like a musical landfill, then they open up, leaving space for hypnotic, crazy, neurotic, and nervous sung verses that have a completely different epilogue from what we might have expected at the beginning. And this, to me, means being geniuses.

Every song is a concentrate of colors, a journey where we can find everything, and this "everything" is shocking because we have never heard such a mixture before. We are bounced from the pure rage of "Easy does it", a track that could rise to an anthem as it is full of energy and inventiveness, to the semi-spoken of "Fire Fire" or "Red and White Bells" or again "Apple or a gun", tracks with truly absurd rhythmic articulation, interspersed with masterfully played musical bursts that terribly remind us of Radiohead, then we land on a beach with the background sound of bells, an acoustic guitar, and a voice that works miracles as in "$40,000 plus interest", until we float towards the last tracks, primarily "Hello explosion", with the sensation of flying and at the same time crashing to the ground.

Here is a group that once again shows us that you can do anything with music.

The everything, the nothing, the noise, the melody, the order, the chaos: opposites can coexist, not without conflicts... perhaps it is from conflict that the music of volcano! is born, and the result is surprising.

 Listen to believe: www.myspace.com/volcanoisaband