Labirinto Di Specchi (Labyrinth of Mirrors) is an Italian progressive band from Siena. Convened around 2005, the group released their first demo in 2007, called "La Maschera delle Visione." They caught the ear of Lizard Record's Loris Furlan who released their proper full length debut "Hanblecheya," now making waves with a sound Lizard calls "Porcupine Tree meets Pholas Dactylus." It reworks material from their early demo and adds some adventurous new compositions.
They have just released their debut album and I caught up with them. Filippo answered my questions.
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When, where and by whom was your band
born ? Did any of you, past and present members, play in any other
bands before joining up in your band ? Why did you choose that name
?
Labirinto Di Specchi is a project
started in 2005 by bassist Matteo Canestri, who had the idea to make
a band marked by an orchestral setting that was supposed to contain
two drums, two bass-guitars, two keyboards and two guitars. Matteo
was the first to put together the band members, who, at the time, had
just come out from small tribute bands. Tired of playing other
people’s songs and willing to write original music, we joined
together and gave birth to Labirinto. Due to different reasons, the
project has undergone several changes (Matteo Canestri, drummer Lucio
Pacchieri, and keyboard player Giovanni Ferretti left the band).
Shortly after the release of Hanblecheya, Diego Samo (keys) did the
same. Luckily, there were important add-ons too. Andrea Valerio came
to fill the ranks of the band playing piano and synths, while Michele
Sanchini (cello) and Paolo Carelli (vocals) gave their great
contributions making the album.
The band’s name was a tough
choice but, eventually, we came up with an extremely spontaneous
solution. We were looking for something that evokes psychedelia, and
thinking of a maze made of mirrors (guess the english for “labirinto
di specchi”), this is the first sensation that came into our
minds.
Which bands were you influenced by ?
In a musical meaning, we define
ourselves omnivores. We are open towards pretty much all musical
genres, including the most “extreme” expressions. The main
artistic influences date back to the 60’s-70’s. Starting from the
Canterbury scene and the colorful italian prog scene, we learned a
lot from bands like Tool, Porcupine Tree and Isis, that are,
according to us, the classic prog-rock contemporary heirs. We are
also deeply inspired by different kind of alternative-rock, such as
post-rock (65daysofstatic, My Sleeping Karma, Mogwai, Neurosis,
Radiohead) and noise-rock (Zu, Morkobot), without neglecting the folk
and acoustic scene (Balmorhea).
Your debut was a demo CD from 2005
named La Maschera Della Visione. Please tell us more about this demo
CD. Is it still available ?
“La Maschera Della Visione” (“The
mask of Vision”) is our first and unique demo-cd. Its release dates
back to 2007, when the group still had his original setting (with two
drums and two basses). It was divided into seven prog-rock tracks,
featured by blues, classical music and alternative-metal references.
Even though the sounds were simple and there was no large use of
electronics yet, that demo contains many examples of what we wanted
our music to be. Few tracks, in fact, were imported in Hanblecheya
after undergoing some changes, meaning that we were approaching the
issue of “Vision”. We still have copies of that demo, but
honestly we think they’re better off where they’re now!
It took you further six years until
your official debut album was released. What happened during these
six years ?
Four years have passed between demo’s
release and our first official album. Actually little less than that
period, considering that some of the songs were ready as early as
January 2009 (when we started recording). Because of that, it is
reasonable to divide this period in two halves: the one before the
beginning of Hanblecheya’s recording, in which we did artistic and
musical experiences at an individual and collective level and we
composed the songs, and the other, lasted almost two years, in which,
once finished recording, we started editing the album.
Although
this second was a bit too long a period, now we realize that it was
really important, not only for Michele’s and Paolo’s
partnerships, but also for taking time to reflect and develop new
ideas.
Unfortunately, Siena and in general
tuscan provinces aren’t that interested in our kind of music, so we
found many difficulties presenting our project. However we did few
live concerts (last one on December 2010).
Your debut album
Hanblecheya was released
earlier this year. Please tell us more about this album.
The main theme of the album is the
Vision, understood not only with a metaphysical meaning but also
metaforically, as a path of reflection and experience that leads to
change, a path to awareness, a path to be followed by a society that
moves towards self-destruction.
We spent almost a year and a half
working on this project. We tried to create an original style that
couldn’t be classified as pure progressive rock. To achieve this,
we mixed together and reworked different genres and sounds, trying to
reach our own expression.
Pholas Dactylus-voice Paolo Carelli’s
and Michele Sanchini’s contributions were fundamental to complete
the album. We owe a lot to them, especially Paolo, who read our
lyrics and wrote “ Nel Nulla Etereo Soggiogato Dall’Ignoto La
Mente Si Espande”’s.
How would you describe you music and
which bands would you compare yourself with ?
We don’t like to compare ourselves to
other bands or even be labeled as a standard-prog one. We do believe
that our music dissociates from progressive’s canons. If we were
forced to describe our genre, it would be something like
post-prog-psychedelic-alternative rock with space and ambient
influences. So on and so forth!
What is your plans for this year and
beyond ?
We’re now developing some ideas,
pretty much minimal and experimental music, that may hopefully become
songs, and perhaps be part of a new project. Meanwhile we’re
looking forward to do live concerts to advertise Hanblecheya.
To wrap up this interview, is there
anything you want to add to this interview ?
We are great supporters of art’s
interdisciplinarity. According to us, music, as an Art, cannot be
separated from other existing art forms. Our concerts are attempts to
involve the viewer in a multisensory experience, ranging from visual
and plastic arts to literature and philosophy, which is meant to
create a sort of parallel universe in which he can get lost. By doing
this, we hope to recover the artistic dimension of music, trying to
avoid making music a mere entertainment or a futile business, which
is exactly what is appening nowadays.
What we did during Hablecheya’s
presentation concert was really close to that ideology. By use of
different materials we made up two artistic installations
representing a path towards the Vision. The same Vision that we
celebrate in our album. A Vision which has no esoteric meaning, but
depicts an individual and collective purification, a mental state in
which associating images, memories, thoughts and moods comes
naturally. To convey this message, a holistic approach to making Art
is necessary.
Thank you to Filippo for this interview
Their PA profile is here and their homepage's here
/PAlogo_v2.gif "Progarchives.com Homepage")
Labirinto Di Specchi
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