On the walls hung wire baskets with ferns in them, alternating with brackets carrying plaster statuary— Garibaldi, and the infant Samuel, and Queen Victoria, and other heroes of modern Italy. Kenneth Grahame Wind in the Willows
Italy was always a country that embraced progressive rock music more than other countries. I have never actually known why, but as they - as a nation - are also responsible for some of the world's most delicious wine and cheese, not to mention Michaelangelo, The Renaissance, Giovanni Guaresechi and Garibaldi biscuits (I'm not sure of the last one) they are obviously a nation with good taste.
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So, why am I talking about Italy? Its simple. This morning I got accosted by a charming young lady. When I say accosted I mean that she sent me a Facebook IM thing, to tell me about her band. This happens quite a lot, but on this occasion the band are really rather good.For one thing, the band are called Unreal City which is a very cool name because it references T.S.Eliot's The Wasteland, which in turn references Baudelaire, which is - in turn - no bad thing. As so many of the bands who send me stuff are called things like Godvomit or YogSagit the Unwholesome to have a band with peerless literary antecedents is rather refreshing.
Secondly, they can play. That's not fair, most of the bands who send me stuff can play, but this rather cool Italian four piece know the value of musicianship and ensemble playing over rushing about and making widdly woo noises. They can also write a good tune and as Brian Epstein said in his last interview "a good tune will always be the next big thing". Now, I have had a strange sort of day and it is gone 1:00am as I write this, and I haven't got the citation with me, but I am sure that he said something to that effect.
And thirdly the singer can sing. There is a disturbing trait in modern music of the heavier kind to substitute a singer with someone who sounds like an angry male wildebeeste in musth clearing his throat. The vocals on this fine little EP are really rather good, and for some reason remind me of the dear departed Nico on Desertshore.
The three songs are melodic and clever, with intricate but never overblown arrangements, and I am very much looking forward to hearing the album!
Their biography reads:
The
band was born in 2008 from the ashes of The Syllogism, and was founded by
Emanuele Tarasconi (piano, organ, synths and voice) and Francesca Zanetta
(guitars). In the beginning Unreal City were a power trio
with synths, guitars and drums (with drummer Carlo Rainone), but in 2011 the
band decided to include a bassist in the formation with the join of Francesco
Orefice. The same year Rainone left for personal reasons and new drummer
Antonio Schingo replaced him.
During
spring 2012 Unreal City recorded their first totally autoproduced self-titled
EP, which has been released in June 2012 and contains three mini suites with
English lyrics: "Apparent Death (The Thanatosis Effect)",
"Between The Devil And Me", "Little Will (Under The
Ghostwood)". Conseguently to the release of the new
EP the band took part of several contests and won many of them, including
NeoDOP music contest in Parma and a silver medal at Liber@mente contest in
QuattroCastella (RE).
The increasing of live performances
and personal issues led Antonio Schingo to leave the band during summer 2012;
after few auditions the band chose the drummer Federico Bedostri as new member.
In summer 2012 the band met Fabio
Zuffanti (Finisterre, Maschera di Cera, Hostsonaten...), who decided to assume
the artistic direction of the band for their debut album under Mirror/BTF
label.
For the occasion, Unreal City decided
to homage Italian progressive rock by re-writing every songs' lyrics in
Italian. The album, which contains 6 tracks
including one long suite, has been recorded at Hilary Studios in Genoa during
January 2013 and will be released during spring 2013.
Members:
Emanuele
Tarasconi (piano, organ, synths and voice)
Francesca
Zanetta (electric and acoustic guitar)
Francesco
Orefice (bass)
Federico
Bedostri (drums and percussions)
more
infos at:
contacts:
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