From the bottom of the garden to the bottom of the sea: a prog maestro goes for a solo shape-shifting.
Having made his name as part
of MOONGARDEN who, in the ’90s, made a serious attempt to restore Italian art
rock to its ’70s glory, recently Cristiano Roversi has been involved in a series
of collaborations with the genre’s coryphaei, which resulted in the decision to
embark on a personal quest of grand proportions. Cue “AntiQua” that sees the
artist in mostly instrumental atmosphere, so perfect for a journey in the
titular fairy land, but it would be just wrong for an Apennine kind of album to
flow with singing, and who can deliver a quasi-operatic ballad better than
former PFM warbler Bernardo Lanzetti, who voices the central section of “Tales
From Solitude Suite”, and LE ORME’s Aldo Tagliapietra who’s all over “L’Amore”?
Yet if the vocals are elegantly effusive, Roversi’s strings and keys sculpt
gentle emotions from the classically informed acoustic fiber of “Morning in
AntiQua” to the piano-led “AntiQua’s Evening”, while Mellotrons and electric
guitars conjure up much more fantastic imagery than the brilliant Ed Unitsky’s
artwork outlines.
Recurring themes keep elusive
narrative together and melodic passages, for all their airiness and watercolor,
both transparent and arresting in “Nessie Revealed”, never lose focus. It works
in favor of integrity and intrigue, especially in the Arcadian delicacy of
“Celestial Slowfall”, where flute imparts painfully sweet melody to the strum,
and in the gauze-like treble which carries “Dimlit Tavern” from a reedy reverie
to a folk dream that blooms on in the title track, until its heartbeat drums
grow in scope and attract cosmic electricity. And it’s a demanding adventure:
easy on the ear, “AntiQua” begs for repeating spins to see all the strains of
its fabric. It’s that wonderful.
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