MEDIOCRAZIA

There are quite a few Italian bands that have emerged in recent years. One that bears close watching is Il Rumore Bianco, who released their debut EP in November 2013. Consisting of six excellent musicians, Il Rumore Bianco leave quite an impression, both in songwriting and execution.

"Mediocrazia" contains four songs, about 28 minutes long--actually, close to the length of several of the classic RPI releases from the 1970s! The compositions are very good and the playing quite mature. Besides basing their roots of 1970s RPI, the band claims influences from jazz, electronic, and ambient music. For sure these are present, particularly jazz (in fact one can detect some Area at several points), especially in their intimate approach. They do not embrace a full symphonic sound often seen in 1970s RPI (think "Zarathustra"), but rather prefer a closer, gentler style. Not to say they don't rock, as the first song in particular has enough Hammond to make Jon Lord smile! But the overall style of their composition lends itself to close scrutiny as opposed to walls of sound.

The highlights for me are the first and last tracks, "Tutto un sogno" parts 1 and 2. The first part shows the harder side of the band, with lots of guitars and Hammond, as well as some sweeping synths. The second part is like the other side of the coin, very ambient and evocative, brooding even, in the use of sax and keys (including mellotron). The songwriting is quite mature, especially given that this is a debut. Too often, young bands suffer from poor vocals--that is certainly not the case here, as the vocals are really quite impressive.

Don't let this one pass you by if you are even a casual RPI fan. Visit their bandcamp page (linked on the PA band page) and download the album. If you like it, order the hard copy.

Four stars!