Sinenomine: Spartenza (Incipit Records, 2009)

Will Italian music ever have a counterpart for Pentangle and their magical blend of floklore, jazzy fragrances and instrumental panache? Maybe not, but take Pentangle, bring in tango and fado and take out the blues, trade Celtic for Southern Italian and you get an idea of the wonderful "Spartenza".

Based on a perfectly coalescence of very polished, wonderfully orchestrated counterpoints, the album may fail to appeal to the lovers of coarse, impulsive, bristly music. It might find it a bit too clean, even unpersonal and soulless. I don't envy them: "Spartenza" is just one of the most charming, passionate and classy Italian folk albums I've ever chanced into.
Its most striking element is the subtle play of silences, pauses and rarefaction: accordion cirrus clouds, restrained acoustic guitar weavings, delicate cello caresses and double bass rustles never owerwhelm the listener, but lull him gently together with the sensuos recitation of a very mediterranean, but effervescently jazz-tinged female voice.
The album merges centuries, styles and sound-worlds, creating its unique out-of-time cocoon: comfortable, entangling and glowing in velvety crayon colours.

Sinenomine are an acoustic quintet from Rome. This is their first album.

Tracklist:

1. Vulumbrella
2. LeMetamorfosi
3. Perduto
4. Luistania
5. Camminante
6. Soliloquia
7. Solaria
8. A lu bene mie
9. Tango de esperanza
10. Rua de saudade
11. Canto delle lavandaie del vomero
12. Riturnella
13. Spartenza

Download (320 kbps)

Similar albums on the blog:

Calicanto: Venexia (Compagnia Nuove Indye, 1997)

Ritmia: Forse il mare (New Tone, 1986)