By Keith Walsh
Acoustic and electronic instruments play well together on the self-titled debut album by Italy’s VONAMOR. The inclusion of saxophone, clarinet, metal flute and guitar alongside electronic production conspires to create a mood that resonates with brilliant atmosphere and emotion across an 8 track set recorded in Rome.
The talented trio features Guilia Bottaro, Francesca Bottaro and Luca Guidobaldi, presenting skillful songwriting and complex textures and instrumentation ranging from trip hop to alternative rock. Guila does vocals, bass, and metal flute, Francesca does drum programming, sequencing, sax, clarinet and synth, and Luca does vocals.
Each song on VONAMOR is like a mini movie, with weird, moody soundscapes and literary lyrics that parlay Italy’s legendary cultural equity into art that capitalizes on the immediacy of the pop format. Themes of domination, decay and betrayal play out, with the lovely soprano voices of the Bottaro sisters and Guidobaldi’s dark baritone drawing the listener into the thickening plot. “Wilderness,” for example, casts a hypnotic spell, inviting the listener into a darkly seductive landscape where one is at peril of becoming lost in love, reaching a climax as an oscillating clarinet laments. Despite its Italian lyrics, the message is clear.
“You The People” portrays the vertigo of uncertainty in a toxic world:
The cinematic feel was part of the plan from the beginning. VONAMOR started in Rome in 2016, making music and images for films. The projected evolved into the current format, at live shows with guitarist and loopist Francesco Bassoli and multi-instrumentalist Martino Cappelli, who adds guitar, mandolin, bouzouki, oud and loops. Whenever loops are mentioned, the possibility of an experimental approach enters the conversation. Indeed, by combining classical influences with electronica and digital production in a literary package, VONAMOR’S debut is on the razor’s edge between commercial and avant-garde electronic rock.
The beat-driven “Fast Forward Girl” is a good example. It starts out innocently as quirky pop song before transforming into something near electro-psychedelia then into an eccentric alt-rocker. “Take Your Heart” updates the coldness of 80s experimental synthpop, until the warmth of electric guitar and passionate vocals escalate the tune into something that resembles the psychological drama of Jefferson Airplane’s Surrealistic Pillow.
“Take your heart and burn it all an’ go for it/ When it’s dark/ Take your time and burn it all an’ go for it/ When it’s dark/ Take your eyes and burn ‘em all an’ go for ‘em/ When it’s dark”
(From “Take Your Heart” by VONAMOR)
The drama and poetry of VONAMOR is tangible and powerful. It’s easy to get swept up in the stories, even though the lyrics range from English to Italian, French and Chinese. By telling these tales in words and in sound, the album is a complex and lovely testament to the power and importance of musical conversations.
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