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( r ) - Under The Cables, Into The Wind
imprec057 - CD - $11.99 
Following the critical and commercial success of Larsen's full length Play,
Larsen guy Fabrizio Modonese Polumbo is releasing his first full
length recording. Full of all the moods, methods and arrangement
that make Larsen such a fascinating and engaging listen Under The
Cables, Into The Wind takes the attentive listener in directions
unfamiliar in Larsen audio landscape. Subtle, beautiful and melodic
Under The Cables, Into The Wind would sit perfectly in the Larsen
catalog if it didn't stand so well on its own.
“From my point of view Under the cables, Into the Wind is my
first real solo album. The first ( r ) album Humps was released
in 2001 by Radon, home of artists such as Smegma and Steve McKay
( the legendary sax player of the Stooges) but infact, Humps was
more a collection of previously unreleased tracks, commissioned
works and live sessions. Since then ( r ) tracks have appeared on
several compilations and I've played lots of solo shows in Italy
and USA.
I worked on this new album for almost one year and for me it also
represents the light at the end of the tunnel, even if it is still
pretty dark and melancholic it is also really relaxed and warm.
I recorded it in my own studio in Torino, Italy with my faithful
sound engineer Marco Milanesio ( founder of the historical italian
industrial band DsorDne) who has also coproduced it and plays piano
on one track; the only exception is a live session recorded @ the
KFJC studios which is part of the Ghost Are made of DNA suite, probably
my most desolate track ever.
The album features a cover version of I'm With U of the MTV punk
starlette Avril Lavigne. I'm not really good at covers so my version
doesn't sound like the original version (i kept just a few chords
even if i think it has a very good melody ) but the lyrics are (almost)
the same. I guess lots of people would think this is an ironic interpretation,
but it is not! I'm really fascinated by bad pop music because it
is such a powerful tool of control on the moods of the masses.
I'm not sure what the song was about before (but according to the
video it was about the unbearable tragedy to not have a car or money
for a cab and consequently to be forced to find someone willing
to drive you home from a boring party), but now it is a declaration
of empathy (let's say love) for (the few) who deserve it (you know
who you are).”
Fabrizio
Torino, March. 2005
Reviews
"Under The Cables, Into The Wind marks the second solo album
for Fabrizio Modonese Palumbo, who hails from the eccentric Italian
post-rock outfit Larsen. That said, Palumbo qualifies this as his
first 'real' solo album, as he dismisses his earlier album Humps as
little more than a collection of fragments, compilation tracks, commissioned
works, and live sessions. Where Larsen creates a smoldering sound
of hypnotic grooves and melodies intensified by slashing counterpoints,
Palumbo's ( r ) exhibits a greater degree of experimentation with
the studio itself as an instrument, building elusive, shadowy collages
and swelling compositions from ringing chimes, bowed metals and thick
walls of jet-engine noise. Yet, he hasn't entirely dropped the structure
of the song on this album, as densely packed acoustic guitar chords
buidling into orchestrations much like Swans' final album Sountracks
For The Blind; at the same time, there's a thoroughly abstracted cover
of Avril Lavigne's "I'm With U," which Palumbo is quick
to point out was produced not for ironic purposes, but out of a fascination
with the control mechanisms of pop music (e.g. Laibach's numerous
covers of Beatles, Queen, Rolling Stones, Europe, etc.) and reinterprets
it as a call for empathy for those who deserve it. Well done, sir.
" Aquarius
"...in the guise of ( r ) , Palumbo layers scraps of noise-mechanical
gtr buzz, crackling piano loops,etc.- into disorienting collages
that envelope your head like either a prisoner's black hood or an
angel's gauzy veil"
Willamette Week
"...surprisingly gentle inflections, combining low voices,
groung hugging mists of keyboards, genial electronic hucklebuck
and even acoustic guitar to create small vistas of delightful otherness..."
The Wire
" ...precious music for fans of the most intimate sounds"
Ritual
" far industrial memories flirting with an attitude to the
sound that evade every kind of musical genre, unworried to put in
the same tracks long noisy drones, classical full scores, ambient
evolutions, sonic assaults... small fragments wandering into a thick
sepuchral fog ..."
Kathodik
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