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LP
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SOMM 029LP
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Sounding at times like Vashti Bunyan fronting Sunforest, Floret Silva is a haunting mix of medieval music and progressive psych folk with Latin lyrics straight from the 13th-century Carmina Burana manuscript. The Floret Silva project was born when minimalist composer Kay Hoffman went to Italy in the mid-'70s. Once there, she met Welsh soprano Jacqueline Darby, who had recently been working with the Italian avant-prog band Pierrot Lunaire. Darby was working on new compositions with RCA producer Vincenzo Micocci in Rome and she asked Hoffman if she was interested in getting involved in a new project. Hoffman agreed and Gaio Chiocchio and Arturo Stalteri of Pierrot Lunaire also joined them on this new venture. Chiocchio travelled from Rome to play the guitar and other friends of Darby's also offered their collaboration. In a short time, Hoffman wrote all the material, inspired by the Carmina Burana and her love of Medieval and Renaissance music. Hoffman also contributed vocals, clavinet, and piano and, with Darby's haunting vocals and an impressive cast of jazz/rock/prog musicians, recorded Floret Silva during 1977 and 1978, under Micocci's guidance. Sadly, RCA backed off and the album went unreleased until a copy of the masters found their way to Japan, where the great Belle Antique label put out the first vinyl edition of Floret Silva in 1985. In 2006, US label Robot Records resurrected it again for its first CD release (ROBOT 034CD). After many years out of print on vinyl, Sommor presents a 2016 edition of this lost piece from the '70s Italian underground scene. A visionary album that anticipated the sound practiced by many neo-folk bands some decades later. RIYL: Jan Dukes de Grey, Vashti Bunyan, Sunforest, The Wicker Man, Pierrot Lunaire, Opus Avantra, Current 93, Nico, Gal Costa, The Wooden O, Giles Farnaby's Dream Band. . . . Master tape sound. Includes four-page insert with detailed liner notes by Richard Allen and photos.
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CD
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ROBOT 034CD
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2006 reissue. 1977 progressive avant-folk masterpiece from minimalist composer Kay Hoffman. Includes collaborative performances from Jacqueline Darby and Gaio Chiocchio, members of the legendary Italian progressive group Pierrot Lunaire. Originally slated for release on RCA/IT (Italy) in '78, the album was later rejected due to recording deadlines, release schedules, and requests by RCA for other artistic/musical considerations. However, many years later, Floret Silva did end up surfacing on a very different shore. Copies of the masters found their way to the highly eclectic Japanese label Belle Antique, whose musical director had heard rumors about the early project in the mid-1980s. As a result, Floret Silva was finally released eight years after the completed sessions in 1985 in a limited but very well-received LP edition. Apparently, not many copies of the record were exported outside Japan. This merely created even more mystery surrounding the recordings as well as rumors associated with a Pierrot Lunaire-related project. The recordings were based on Carmina Burana, a collection of medieval poetry written by various authors of which little is known. Floret Silva was an attempt to find a voice for these anonymous authors in the late 1970s in Florence. Available for the first time on CD with remastered sound, including a 12-page booklet with full lyrics and English translations. A lost (but now reclaimed) gem from the Italian progressive underground.
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