(r) - Under the Cables, Into the Wind - CD
(r) - Under the Cables, Into the Wind - CD
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Following the critical and commercial success of Larsen's full length Play, Larsen member Fabrizio Modonese Polumbo is releasing his first full length recording. Full of all the moods, methods and arrangement that make Larsen such a fascinating and engaging listen, Under the Cables, Into the Wind takes the attentive listener in directions dissimilar to Larsen audio landscapes. Subtle, beautiful and melodic, Under the Cables, Into the Wind would sit perfectly in the Larsen catalog if it didn't stand so well on its own.
“From my point of view, Under the Cables, Into the Wind is my first real solo album. The first (r) album, Humps, was released in 2001 by Radon, home of artists such as Smegma and Steve McKay (the legendary sax player of the Stooges) but in fact, Humps was more a collection of previously unreleased tracks, commissioned works, and live sessions. Since then, (r) tracks have appeared on several compilations and I've played lots of solo shows in Italy and the USA. I worked on this new album for almost one year, and for me it also represents the light at the end of the tunnel; even if it is still pretty dark and melancholic, it is also really relaxed and warm.
"I recorded it in my own studio in Torino, Italy with my faithful sound engineer Marco Milanesio (founder of the historical Italian industrial band DsorDne) who also co-produced it and plays piano on one track. The only exception is a live session recorded @ the KFJC studios which is part of the Ghost Are Made of DNA suite, probably my most desolate track ever.
"The album features a cover version of I'm With U of the MTV punk starlet Avril Lavigne. I'm not really good at covers so my version doesn't sound like the original version (I kept just a few chords even if i think it has a very good melody) but the lyrics are (almost) the same. I guess lots of people would think this is an ironic interpretation, but it is not! I'm really fascinated by bad pop music because it is such a powerful tool of control on the moods of the masses.
"I'm not sure what the song was about before (but according to the video it was about the unbearable tragedy to not have a car or money for a cab and consequently to be forced to find someone willing to drive you home from a boring party), but now it is a declaration of empathy (let's say love) for (the few) who deserve it (you know who you are).” ~ Fabrizio Modonese Polumbo, Torino, March 2005
TRACK LISTING
1. Love Song
2. Landscape #1
3. Ghosts Are Made of DNA (Pt. 1/2/3)
4. Shining Camels and Rising Anacondas
5. Ukulele
6. I'm With U
7. Love Song
REVIEWS
"Under The Cables, Into The Wind marks the second solo album for Fabrizio Modonese Palumbo, who hails from the eccentric Italian post-rock outfit Larsen. That said, Palumbo qualifies this as his first 'real' solo album, as he dismisses his earlier album Humps as little more than a collection of fragments, compilation tracks, commissioned works, and live sessions. Where Larsen creates a smoldering sound of hypnotic grooves and melodies intensified by slashing counterpoints, Palumbo's (r) exhibits a greater degree of experimentation with the studio itself as an instrument, building elusive, shadowy collages and swelling compositions from ringing chimes, bowed metals and thick walls of jet-engine noise. Yet, he hasn't entirely dropped the structure of the song on this album, as densely packed acoustic guitar chords building into orchestrations much like Swans' final album Soundtracks For The Blind; at the same time, there's a thoroughly abstracted cover of Avril Lavigne's 'I'm With U,' which Palumbo is quick to point out was produced not for ironic purposes, but out of a fascination with the control mechanisms of pop music (e.g. Laibach's numerous covers of Beatles, Queen, Rolling Stones, Europe, etc.) and reinterprets it as a call for empathy for those who deserve it. Well done, sir." ~ Aquarius
"...in the guise of (r), Palumbo layers scraps of noise-mechanical gtr buzz, crackling piano loops,etc.- into disorienting collages that envelope your head like either a prisoner's black hood or an angel's gauzy veil." ~ Willamette Week
"...surprisingly gentle inflections, combining low voices, groung hugging mists of keyboards, genial electronic hucklebuck and even acoustic guitar to create small vistas of delightful otherness..." ~ The Wire
"...precious music for fans of the most intimate sounds." ~ Ritual
"far industrial memories flirting with an attitude to the sound that evade every kind of musical genre, unworried to put in the same tracks long noisy drones, classical full scores, ambient evolutions, sonic assaults ... small fragments wandering into a thick sepulchral fog..." ~ Kathodik
