TRA LUCE E OMBRA

"Tra luce e ombra" (Between light and shadow) is the second album by Salentine band I Viaggi di Madeleine and was released in 2023 on the MP Records label with a line up featuring Francesco Carella (vocals, keyboards, synth bass, piano Rhodes, acoustic guitar) and Giuseppe Quarta (drums) plus the guests Marco Ancona (electric guitar), Francesco Del Prete (violin), Roberto Gagliardi (sax), Pietro Sansonetti (electric guitar), Richard Sinclair (vocals, bass) and Santi Spanna (narrative vocals). It confirms all the good qualities of their debut work with a sound drawing from seventies influences and a personal, strong emotional touch. The original art cover chosen to convey the idea of the musical content of this work was provided by OndemediE graphic studio...

The excellent opener "Migrazioni" (Migrations) is an instrumental piece that, according to the liner notes, depicts the perpetual motion of the universe. The pulsing rhythm and the hypnotic keyboards waves try to evoke migrations of people and animals, the continuous movement of waters, winds and earth, the changing of the seasons and the migration of souls and other spiritual forces from one form of life to another...

"Frequenze solari" (Solar frequencies) is a lively celebration of the power of sunlight that mixes blues with tarantella and every now and again could recall PFM. The music and lyrics conjure up a lay prayer, an invocation to the light and a kind a sun dance that makes you take off and fly on solar frequencies...

"Poker" is another good piece where wordless vocals duet and interact with the other instruments in a funny, swinging way. This piece features the contribute of the guest Richard Sinclair, former bassist and vocalist of bands such as Caravan and Hatfield And The North, who now lives in Martina Franca, Apulia...

Then the nightmarish "Bronx" describes in music and words the feelings of anguish and fear that experiences a man walking in the middle of the night in the streets of a dangerous neighbourhood. He goes on corner after corner, block after block, as if he were crossing rivers of rubbish and mud while crazy jackals chase after him in a world gone wrong where greediness, vanity and madness reign...

"L'ultima battaglia" (The last battle) is an epic instrumental track that, according to the liner notes, depicts the different stages of a timeless battle: the ritual before the clash between the two opposite armies, the attack, the battlefield scattered with the corpses of dead soldiers, the charge of the knights and a final ambush...

The slow, mysterious "Androgino" (Androgynous) evokes in music and words an undefined presence breaking through the veil of moral sense, crossing the limit between male and female, a joyful and coloured fantasy carried towards other worlds in the darkness, a suffering entity shaken by a storm of different forces. A blurred image of free love that comes to life from the pure desire of its own existence...

"Road Roller" is an instrumental track that, according to the liner notes, tries to tell in notes the story of a big, strong man called Road Roller who falls in love with a young, beautiful stranger he met at the fish market. The girl rejects him but he does not give up and tries to impress her by training hard in a gym. Eventually he dies for an overdose of anabolic substances...

Then "Nostalgie" (Nostalgias) closes the album: it's a beautiful piece with the violin in the forefront that conjures up distant memories, childhood dreams, short moments of joy and vain hopes haunting the nights of an old man. According to the liner notes, this piece was inspired by the "Hymns to the Night", a set of six poems written by the German Romantic poet Novalis...

On the whole, an excellent work that deserves a try!