STATI DI IMMAGINAZIONE

In 2006 PFM released their best work in the last thirty years, "Stati di immaginazione" (States of imagination). The line up on this album features historic members Franz Di Cioccio (drums, percussion), Patrick Djivas (bass, fretless bass, plastic flute) and Franco Mussida (guitars). They where helped in studio by an old friend and collaborator like Lucio Fabbri (violin, keyboards) and by Gianluca Tagliavini (keyboards, hammond organ, moog) while founder member Flavio Premoli contributed to the composition of two track but had to quit the band because of health problems.

"Stati di immaginazione" is a completely instrumental work and features, as you can read in the booklet, "eight musical stories, eight films... to enter the free state of the imagination". All the tracks were inspired by short films that you can find in a DVD included in the packaging... Well, PFM have always been in trouble with lyrics since Mauro Pagani left the band in 1974 and perhaps it's not by chance that they tried to express with images what they couldn't express with words. Indeed, videos and music on "Stati di immaginazione" are complementary and during the tour following the release of the album the band chose to play in the dark with the images flowing in the background...

The opener "La terra dell'acqua" (The land of the water) was inspired by a documentary about Venice... The city is still suspended between past and present, beautiful buildings have been reflecting themselves on peaceful waters night and day for centuries, but water can be dangerous and a sudden acceleration of rhythm lead by pulsing bass lines announces stormy weather and high water while images show the effects of growing waves sweeping the city... After the storm calm comes back and in an nocturnal atmosphere featuring delicate piano passages you can dream one more time. Then rhythm takes off again and the sound of the electric guitar pushes your thoughts towards an uncertain future... How could Venice survive to the menacing waters that threaten to invade its streets and submerge the city transforming it into a modern Atlantis?

Next track "Il mondo in testa" (The world into the head) begins with a short intro taken from "Promenade The Puzzle" (the English version of "Geranio"), a piece from the album "Photos of Ghosts" featuring crazy lyrics by Pete Sinfield. Music provides a perfect commentary for a vintage funny black and white film where a practitioner extracts ("physically"!) the crazy thoughts from the brain of a man... What a strange way to cure madness!

"La conquista" (The conquest) starts with an electric guitar riff and an almost tribal drum roll, then frenzy bass lines introduce a busy atmosphere... Black and white images show a tribe at work in a forest building a bridge of ropes over a river full of alligators and all the struggles they had to reach their goal.

"Il sogno di Leonardo" (The dream of Leonardo) begins with a delicate acoustic guitar intro. The mood is dreamy and there's a strong classical atmosphere, especially in the middle section. The beautiful video describes the dreams of a young Leonardo De Vinci... His desire to fly like a bird lead him to the construction of ingenious machines and mechanical wings. Never drop your dreams, nobody ends into the nothingness...

"Cyber Alpha" features a tense atmosphere and a long nervous electric guitar solo. Now we're back in a present full of dangers, where nothing is like it seems to be. Cold war secret projects, guinea pigs escaping from laboratories, a growing wave of terrorism and criminality... This track could be the perfect background for a Maurice G. Dantec's novel...

"Agua Azul" starts on a bass solo introduction. The atmosphere is dark and music describes the mysteries of a Mexican forest hiding Maya temples... Then on a evocative melody played by violin images turn to a series of waterfalls where an "adventurer" is practicing canoeing while rhythm takes off with a sudden outbreak of adrenaline.

"Nederland 1903" is the shortest track on the album. Acoustic guitar and violin introduce a peaceful and a bucolic atmosphere. Images show scenes of everyday life taken from a vintage documentary about Netherlands where you can see men and women in their traditional costumes.

The charming long and complex epic "Visioni di Archimede" (Visions of Archimedes) concludes this excellent work. Music and images were inspired by the character of Archimedes of Syracuse (287 BC ? 212 BC), a great mathematician, physician, inventor and astronomer that was killed during the siege of Syracuse by a Roman soldier... Burning mirrors seem to light fiery electric guitar riffs while more relaxed meditative parts mark the contrast between thirst of knowledge and violence... A "Gran Finale" for a magnificent album!