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AU 9080CD
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Three years after his previous work (Flow, Home, 2015), Italian guitarist and composer Francesco Diodati releases Never The Same, his latest and long-awaited album as a leader. He's back with the same band, Yellow Squeeds with Enrico Zanisi (piano, synth), Francesco Lento (trumpet), Glauco Benedetti (tuba, valve trombone), and Enrico Morello (drums), and the same label, Auand Records. His name has become one of the most renowned ones in the Italian and European music scene: working and touring extensively with Enrico Rava, he has also proved his personality and innovative attitude on his works as a leader. At the core of Never The Same is a deep reflection on individual perceptions and team work and on the countless transformations these two elements can generate even on the most basic melody. What dominates the composing side is "several layers of sounds overlapping," Diodati says, "intertwining lines becoming mutually essential, albeit maintaining their own independence. This way of building music ensures, for example, that the same tune can be perceived in a different way by each listener. It's like looking at the same 3D object from different perspectives, in your hands or suspended in space." This approach generates the apparently alienating effect that can be heard on "Entanglement", with its constantly changing rhythm. Diodati states, "On our previous album, Zanisi played the piano, while he's doubling on Fender Rhodes, modular synth and bass synth now. I gave Morello a ton of Burmese gongs, which I collected along my trips and live shows in Myanmar, and we played those in the intro of 'Simple Lights'. Glauco Benedetti turned out so surprisingly well on the valve trombone that I rewrote some parts to add it. Francesco Lento brings so many different sounds out of his trumpet, making the timber possibilities endless. He can be truly lyric as well as angular and harsh. We often converse very fast, and this became more and more intense over the years. They are all impressive musicians. I chose them because they break boundaries, and go beyond what's common." As the likes of "River" show, sometimes their interplay is the starting point of an enchanting sound flow, built on the melody and ending in a dense collective improvisation. And while they're playing with an out-of-tune instrument, focusing on timber or exchanging roles in the lineup, the album cover also catches the eye, embracing the whole idea of the album.
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AU 9056CD
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Italian guitarist Francesco Diodati's third album as a leader, Flow, Home, is conceptually grounded in the exploration of emotional focal points. It's also the debut of Diodati's Yellow Squeeds quintet, featuring Enrico Zanisi on piano, Enrico Morello on drums, Glauco Benedetti on tuba, and Francesco Lento on trumpet. Diodati is also a member of the Enrico Rava Quartet, and has an ongoing duo project with the Italian trumpet player. The band formed around the union of many approaches and styles, thus enriching Diodati's originals with a timbric range and countless expressive possibilities. The opening track, "Split," is all about the moment one feels split in two -- a division here translated in music through both Lento's anxious trumpet and Benedetti's nervous tuba. The long ostinato in the ballad "Ale" holds the immanence of a feeling that mixes up strength and tenderness. And then "Lost" comes, and Diodati's subtle guitar-swarms express a sense of confusion and loss, sealed by an intensely acoustic final moment. "Believe" starts as a game, with the piano playfully disturbed by Burmese gongs and ping-pong balls and helped by Morello's clean drumming, and then opens up to fascinating harmonic choices and a sudden elegance. "Folk Song," "Flow," and "Home" are three compositions that seem linked by a stream of consciousness. "Folk Song" is the ideal introduction, with a minimal melody focused on an easy guitar line and strengthened by a no-frills approach. In "Flow," this turmoil finds its final shape, turning into an imaginary dialogue between trumpet and tuba underlined by Morello's nervous drumming. "Home" is the perfect union of lyricism and technique, highlighting Diodati's inner melodic taste and, at the same time, the intention of defying the six-string boundaries. There is also a tribute to Thelonious Monk, Diodati's musician of choice, here celebrated with a daring reinterpretation of "Played Twice," which shows the interplay skills of this young yet wise quintet. Pensive closer "Casa do Amor" is the happy landing of a restless path, magnificently reflected in Benedetti's euphonium solo.
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