PIERROT LUNAIRE

Pierrot Lunaire started their recording career with a really interesting album. The predominantly acoustic instrumentation, the delivery of pleasant melodic lines all throughout the repertoire, and the lack of a specific drummer (guitarist Vincenzo Caporaletti handles drum duties in some pieces) are the clear symptoms of a bucolic orientation of the band's prog offering, not unlike Celeste, for example. But we mustn't be led to believe that this is just pastoral music: just like their fellow countrymen of Celeste, PL introduces a disturbing touch of dissonance and density that makes the pleasant turn into mysterious here and there. And yet, the disturbing ingredient is integrated softly and naturally into sonic whole, without breaking its bucolic basic essence. Somehow it enters the spectrum as a nuance of fog or a breath of chilly air that at first seems to shake the overall purity of a virgin landscape. but no, that hazy cloud and that unexpected winter breeze serve actually as a subtle source of complementation for the general serene tendency of the music, and an added color that acts as a hint of some sort of potential tension that remains hidden underneath. All this can be perceived in 'Ouverture XV', 'Invasore', as well as the syncopated 'Lady Ligeia' (the mean bass lines and the soaring string synth layers effectively wrap the piano motif) and the delicately somber 'Narciso'. 'Arlecchinata' includes some exulting piano and organ interludes between the recurring main motif statements. Here we also have 'Raipure' and 'Il Re di Reipure', which portray the group's bucolic tendency more frontally, serving as an effective showcase for the typical Mediterranean feel. The same goes for the high-spirited 'Sotto i Ponti', which kind of reminds me of the acoustic side of early PFM. The closing instrumental 'Mandragola' is the weirdest piece in the album: upon an almost martial piano-bass basis, a series of harmonies delivered by frantic organ and synth harmonies and some mean guitar leads, the motif marches on until an acoustic coda (a brief classical guitar reprise of the previous track) comes in as a source of extreme contrast. In conclusion: "Pierrot Lunaire" is a very good album that should have a place of honour in any good prog collection. I add an extra half-star to the rating.