SPECTRE

"10 Pezzi Facili"

Old Europa Cafe - 2009

CD

Spectre (aka Marcello Fraioli, guitar player and vocalist of Ain Soph) is back with a new solo work after his appreciated debut "Mantra Voluntatis. "10 Pezzi Facili" (10 Easy Tunes) stays back to its title, presenting a collection of songs that flow dynamically one into the next; originals and covers are put aside without any other apparent concept than reflecting the author's tastes and interests. Marcello appears in blurred black and white pictures on the digipack, like a solitary stranger walking in the night of Rome, carrying a distinctive feeling of melancholy and loneliness quite different from the "rock 'n' roll" image portrayed on the cover of the previous CD.

The music itself is quite different this time: the night atmosphere still very much alive, but this time it's not anymore the night of adventures, lovers, ambiguous characters and mystery, for these new ten tunes reflect a rather intimate consciousness of the artist. The listener can find traces of prog rock, folk and new wave rock among these 10 songs, and it's also very interesting to listen to Spectre doing his own versions of Franco Battiato's "Magick Shop" or Francesco Guccini's "L'Avvelenata", as well as John Barry's "The Persuaders". Very beautiful is the rework of Ain Soph's classic anthem "Datemi Pace", this time using a church organ to conjure a solemn and almost religious atmosphere perfectly matching to Petrarca's immortal words. Italy's most prominent poet of all times, Dante, is here evoked as well, through the stanzas of "Vita Nova", his main work previous to the "Divina Commedia".

Only two guests do appear on the new CD: Klarita Pandolfi's voice on "Breus" (using another Italian poet's rhymes, Giovanni Pascoli) and Circus Joy's Corrado Mancini, in the most experimental and disquieting track, "Trance Roma E.S.P.", a long electronic mantra slightly reminding of the very early Ain Soph. To sum up, "10 Pezzi Facili" is a nice collection of music that will keep you company during the rest of your summer and, later on, solitary winter evenings.

- Simon V.

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/spectrae

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