U RIGIRU

Music streaming services like Spotify are under fire at the moment because of the tiny amount of money artists get for their music being played - far less than the physical purchase of a CD for example. However, this album is a perfect example of such streaming surfaces enabling a "lost and obscure" artist to reach a slightly wider audience - being able to listen (almost) for free rather than gambling on album purchases.

Rialzu's album is fairly jazzy in style, more similar to the likes of Potemkine and Zao than Magma, and also with stylings similar to the RPI sub-genre, particularly the vocals. That Zeuhl/RPI blend pretty much sums up the band's roots, being from Corsica.

The title track begins with a classic jazz/zeuhl blend, but once the Italian style calmer vocal passage starts it gets a little spookier, and with more suspenseful zeuhl vocals building slowly towards a very symphonic passage in the midsection of the mammoth 16 minute track. At around 12 minutes it is interrupted by a brilliant drum solo. The vocals and organs kick back in two minutes later with the fast paced drumming continuing and building towards an abrupt finish.

I Lagramante builds on the eerie parts of the title track, beginning with haunting vocals, string and organ passages, before a mix of guitar solos, organ and rolling drums very much in RPI style. Its quite stop-start throughout its ten minute run, finishing as it began with eerie vocals and swirling winds.

A mubba is a shorter track, starting where I Lagramante left off, but quickly breaking into a jazz fusion piece, starting with organ and bass but also introducing a guitar after a few passages. It does seem like it was just there to fill the last 3 minutes of the album but its still fairly decent.

'Hidden gem' gets thrown around a little too much but I'm happy to say the title track definitely is one, and the rest of the album is worth a listen too. 4stars for the title track, 3 for the others.