AMMINISTRAZIONE CAOS POPOLARE

Amministrazione Caos Popolare began life in Rome in 2010 on the initiative of Luigi Ranieri and Nicolas Sabini, two experienced musicians with different backgrounds. At the very beginning they began playing cover but soon they turned their attention to the composition of original pieces and started playing live on the local scene sharing their interests with other musicians that completed the line up. At the end of 2014 the band self released an interesting debut album entitled Sendai Nebula with a line up featuring Luigi Ranieri (guitar, vocals), Nicolas Sabini (bass, synthesizers, flute), Andrea Aliberti (guitar), Andrea Di Giovenale (piano, keyboards, synthesizers) and Attilio Renzetti (vocals). The overall sound of the band is not stuck in the past and combines neo-prog with other influences such as psychedelia, hard rock or new wave. The music is accessible but never banal and every now and again could recall some recent works by Franco Battiato without being too derivative. According to the official website, the title of the album refers to the passage from normality to an emotional, altered state and comes from the combination of two words: "Sendai", a term taken from a cyberpunk novel by William Gibson that defines a cyberdeck, a kind of machine that allows transportation to an electrostatic cloud where the peripheral nervous system changes, and "Nebula", a Latin word that defines a vaporous, transitory state. The art work by Ivan Pedretti in some way depicts this concept dealing with dreams, emotions and thoughts...

The opener "Esistenzialista" (Existentialist) starts by a burst of energy that takes you far away on a cold starry night. A multitude of thoughts and feelings pass through your mind in a stream of consciousness as you are wondering about the mysteries of the universe, trying to discover fragments of your future in the oracles of an ancient divination text called I Ching... In this fantastic, galactic ride there's room for relax and reflection as the rhythm calms down and the atmosphere becomes dreamy. But there's still a deep sense of uneasiness lingering in the air before the rhythm takes off again. You have to open your mind to avoid falling down, you are the maker of your own existence...

The following "Onde" (Waves) features the guest Roberto Segala on drums and begins with the sound of the sea in the background and a delicate piano passage. Then the rhythm rises evoking lively dances and the far echoes of a summer spent on a solitary beach... The music and lyrics draw games of light on the water and dreamy, distant horizons, new sensations and melted dreams. Bright memories alternates with the dark shadows of remorse and everything is carried away by the raging waves of destiny...

The melancholic, introspective "Buio assoluto" (Absolute dark) is my favourite track on this album. The music and lyrics depict a heavy silence coming down that begins to freeze a river of dancing words between smiles and sadness... Well, imagine a man who is looking at his dying father: asking for a few more words he begins to fly down into deep memories, between waves and regrets, errors and fears, joy and tears...

The folksy "Liverpool" is sung in English and depicts the image of a lady on a ship in the port of Liverpool. She's got a flower in her hand. She's ready to set off on her journey and hopes to leave poverty and famine behind her, maybe she's directed to America... It's an old, dramatic story of emigration that unfortunately has not lost its actuality.

The long, dark instrumental "Abandon" every now and again reminds me of Pink Floyd and leads to the surreal, dreamy "E la luna fuma" (And the moon smokes) where the music and lyrics conjure up the image of a strange moon that comes down from the sky just to sit in front of a glass of wine, smoking a cigarette like a black and white diva in an old movie. Maybe you will find her in a desert coloured of utopia trying to make real what people believe is nothing but fantasy...

The notes of Jingle Bells open the last track of the album, the long epic "No'l" (Christmas) where the hopes and feelings of a little child on Christmas Night are compared with the hopes and feelings of an old man who has not lost all his dreams and hopes. Time and space are intertwined in a dance of memories... There are sounds to cover the silences and smiles to smother the screams as Father Christmas comes on a bolero rhythm just to put another brick in the wall...

On the whole a very interesting album, full of poetry and dreamy atmospheres! Have a try and judge by yourselves, you can listen to the complete album on deezer or spotify.

Formed back in 2010, Roman band Amministrazione Caos Popolare is comprised of players from a wide range of musical backgrounds, and that variety is constantly evident throughout their debut album from 2014, `Sendai Nebula'. With a title that references William Gibson's cyberpunk works and Ivan Pendretti's deep space photography to relate to both a sensory and physical state, it's an unpredictable album of contrasts and constantly shifting styles. The music is dreamy and unhurried one minute, harder-edged rock the next, with the majority of the album vocal-based and comprised of tightly written pieces that allow for carefully executed instrumental passages. Despite fleeting additions of folk, theatrical and classical elements expected of most RPI-related titles, the ACP band actually reveal a very original and unique style that sounds quite unlike a lot of the music coming from numerous other modern Italian acts.

Opener `Esistenzialista' is bookended with a gutsy driving hard sound full of energy behind a cautious yet cool vocal from Attilio Renzetti, and a reflective ambient break in the middle of chiming guitars and serene synths with a subtle cinematic flavour builds nicely. Sprightly and fast-paced to open and close with buoyant bass galloping around snappy drumming and an urgent vocal, `Onde' also diverts into a melancholic break with ghostly piano and an ocean of drifting disorientating voices. Despite retaining a fairly accessible tune, `Buio Assoluto' flirts with classical regal flavours before growing in power with some seriously dirty electric guitar snarl, and Attilio's wounded theatrical purr takes the piece to RPI heaven.

The sombre folk ballad `Liverpool' (sung in English) has heavier bursts and a striking solo piano spot, and `E la Luna Fuma' is darkly romantic with noisier outbreaks. Spacey electronics, murmuring bass and glistening electric piano blissfully float through instrumental `Abandon', one of the highlights of an already great disc and a nice diversion from the actual songs, where the acoustic guitar is warm and the electric cooks with a slow-burn fire. The ten-minute closer `Noel' is the longest and most ambitious piece on the disc, jumping back and forth between excited and hopeful upbeat moments with calmer reflective interludes of weeping guitar strains, before the piece roars to life in the finale with a sublime extended instrumental run from all the players performing to the best of their abilities.

On the surface, `Sendai Nebula' is not the flashiest or most attention-seeking of recent Italian works, but therein lies its greatest strength. This work is unpredictable and carefully reveals great class, restraint and maturity delivered by a fiercely talented group of musicians. Amministrazione Caos Popolare are off to a great start, and their equally delicate and boisterous little album deserves much more exposure and praise.

Four stars.