Working with a smaller band and greater range of side players -- including, intriguingly enough, cellist
Jane Robertson, fresh from working with
Don Cherry on
Relativity Suite --
Battiato aims at a somewhat more grandiose level with
Sulle Corde di Aires. Consisting only of four pieces, the first of which,
"Sequenze e Frequenze," is a mostly instrumental number spanning a full side, on the one hand
Sulle Corde sounds like
Battiato taking himself a bit more seriously. On the other, it contains enough vibrant life to be well worth a listen beyond the world of
prog fandom. The combination of acoustic guitar elegance (credit
Gianni Mocchetti in particular for his work) and electronic drum pulse and keyboard overdubs some four minutes into
"Sequenze e Frequenze," for instance, has a
Krautrock-inspired life of its own.
Battiato subtly ups the ante a little bit later with an increasingly wacky and fun kalimba sequence over a rolling, stuttering synth/guitar loop that could be right out of
Pink Floyd's
"One of These Days," with even more keyboard drones and melodies adding to the at-once serene and playful mood. The remaining three songs offer up more in the way of general variety, touching on everyone from
acid-folk tribalism to hints of
neo-classical approaches, not to mention a playful pseudo-
Renaissance jam via oboe and clarinet combined with
Mochetti's mandolin on
"Da Oriente ad Occidente." The
jazz connection hinted at via
Robertson's appearance on
"Aria di Rivoluzione" gets a more conventional nod due to
Daniele Cavallanti's work on soprano sax and
Gianni Bedori's performance on regular saxophone. Both are competent players if not uniquely inspired, but
Bedori's jamming on the increasingly intense
"Aries" deserves a nod.
Battiato himself sings only at a few points on
Sulle Corde, but when he does, it continues the balanced mood between seriousness and sheer joy. ~ Ned Raggett
