Garamond: Quant'altro (Lizard, 2007)

Garamond's debut album is actually some sort of retrospective of their activity: the tracks date to 2001 and 2005. They are an ensemble from Ancona and their style is firmly rooted in the Italian "Rock In Opposition" tradition. The singer Laura Agostinelli's vocal research evidently reminds of Area's Demetrio Stratos, but is definitely more jocose, thus coming close to experimentation of Quintorigo's John De Leo.
The whole album is extremely high-spirited indeed. The lyrics seem to reflect an Ou.Li.Po. aesthetics: they keep on switching among registers, from fairytalesque to nonsense, childish, aulic. The music behaves pretty much in the same way, ranging from chamber music to jazz, band music, electronica... The result is a very dynamic and fanciful work, maybe comparable to Picchio dal pozzo or Stormy Six: highly intricated, kaleidoscopic, but always very light.

Here's a (not so much) more detailed review I wrote in Italian.


Tracklist:

1. Nel sogno di Otfon Brunzig, consumatore di sogni
2. La (proverbiale) fine del Ca' De Luzi
3. Il gesuita millantatore
4. Filastrocca all'oracolo
5. La saga degli immaginari
6. Beatamente plagiati da superstizioni organizzate
7. Omaggio al Dottor Zoidberg
8. Drazil
9. Situazione angolare

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