CONTRAPPUNTI

At first listen, this seems a more experimental, obtuse follow-up to the lauded 'Felona E Sorona' album. After becoming more familiar with it, I can only figure it's due to the lack of cohesiveness between tracks. 'Felona E Sorona' had a certain flow because, not only was it a concept album, it was an especially well-written one. 'Contrappunti' simply seems like an unrelated series of songs, and it's not to be faulted for that, because what you get here are some of Le Orme's mightiest compositions. Things open with a haunting instrumental, and then into "Frutto Acerbo", which sounds like typical Le Orme from this period: gentle, expressive vocals, airy musical flights between the drums-keyboards-bass trio (always sticking to the foundation of the song), and very smooth transitions between parts. Then "Aliante" knocks all that down with an extremely cosmic approach and some nutty rhythmic honks-n-skronks. Weird headphone stuff to trip out to. Final track on side one, "India", recalls the eastern vibe of its title, but whereas another reviewer of this album noted that the synth was trying to mimic a sitar, I'm hearing it as a far more cosmic interpretation of that instrument, to the point that it becomes yet something else. Lots of interesting and exotic sounds swirl around on this one, marking it as a highlight of the album. Turn it over (or just sit there if you've got the CD) and you get a side that features one fairly traditional slice of Le Orme ("La Fabbricante D'Angeli"), a shadowy instrumental called "Notturno", and the wonderful "Maggio". "Maggio" is nearly 9 minutes of the best Le Orme you'll ever hear. This is an epic slice of subtle musical motion (and a few colorful explosions!). It shows the adventurous, sometimes innovative spirit of this unique Italian band, and pretty much encapsulates all the great elements of this band in one track. (If you hear someone screaming out for this one at Nearfest 2005.that'll be me.) 'Contrappunti' is a tightly-played, expertly-written, beautifully-recorded, dynamically- arranged album that is hard to find any real fault with.