il Rumore del Fiore di Carta - LESSON 3/how to live without senses
Rating
RIYL
EimogThe Album Leaf
Always the Runner
Cicada
Release Date
03/21/2011
Label
Self ReleasedTracklist
01. Damaged robots (in a camomilla bar)02. Part-time superhero
03. Minigolf striker
04. Last dog in a talk-show
05. Gold medals for rent
06. Music for vegan Vampires
07. The blind cosmonaut under the sea
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Just recently, we published a review of Every Silver Lining has a Cloud’s debut album. It’s a competent listen, but the French duo never really break the post-rock mold, so to speak. And it is tough to explain to someone less familiar with the genre just what stock-standard post-rock is. It’s even tougher to imagine how to reinvent the genre with any degree of success.
But then I remembered Italy’s il Rumore del Fiore di Carta, and their recent release LESSON3/how to live without senses. On top of electrics, the quintet brings keys and brass to the genre’s tired formula. The end result is an album that is different in an understated way. LESSON3 may not be the most remarkable example of post-rock advancement, nor does it pack earth-shattering highs and placid, meditative, nirvana-achieving lows, but I am continually struck by most of its seven tracks separately, and left refreshed by the album as a conceptual whole. What il Rumore have here is a well-executed post-rock album that is sometimes mellow and pale, and other times vibrant and verdant, but always just “different” enough. And while that's taken away from the experience for many reviewers before me, I'm discovering just how much I appreciate it with each subsequent listen.
The first song "Damaged robots (in a camomilla bar)" is entirely deceptive, firmly rooted in the Maybeshewill school of post-rock, with its busy instrumentation and angular grooves. It has a quiet, melodious bridge as a sign of what's to come, but is for the most part the most rockin' and engaging track on the disc. The lush tremolo notes drip with urgency until they burst into static noise as the track ends.
And on its heels? The heartendingly spare "Part-time superhero," with its simmering ambience, electric drums, and backbone of melancholic piano. And right around the halfway mark, a mournful trumpet's murmuring darkens the atmosphere before heavier, more distorted drums surge for the forefront and pulse as the backing guitars ache longingly. "Minogolf striker" picks up where "Part-time superhero" leaves off; guitar and keys provide an elegiac undercurrent while the trumpet is put on full display. As the 11-minute opus progresses, the trumpet fades into the backing ambience, and a reticent guitar melody deluged in delay drives the track forward, gathering tempo, volume, and urgency. These colliding forces bleed seamlessly into the track's early plateau: a divine mess of tremolo, crash and snare that carries itself for a full two minutes. In the aftermath, tripping piano and trumpet trickle in and languish beautifully like spent blooms until the song fades into silence.
"Last dog in a talk-show" builds itself up, patiently and piecemeal, from the silence in the wake of "Minigolf striker." First, two sets of echoing keys ring out into the pervasive quiet. Soon, flourishes of guitar creep in, followed by extruded trumpet peals. It's a mesmerizing effect that melts away minutes of your life before the judicious drums snap you back to consciousness just in time to experience the urgent build-up which climbs and climbs in pitch, gathering pressure, preparing to explode, only to peak into quiet simplicity. It's that maddening moment a roller coaster crests the towering first hill and pauses, waiting with breath held tight and expectations tighter, and il Rumore do not disappoint. The descent is furious and noisy with rattling bass, like cars shaking on the metal rails of a old wooden track. It's the stock-standard post-rock song done to absolute death, but executed perfectly.
"Gold medals for rent" conglomerates its predecessors, though the electric drums, trumpet and keys ring create a decidedly sunnier tone before giving way to a crescendo that buzzes with a caustic, sour sort of noise. It's a short, misfit sort of song that probably could have been skipped. But it really is just an unfortunate misstep on an album chock with potential.
"Music for vegan Vampires" more than makes up for it, another 11-minute odyssey that progresses markedly from its simple electric opening, incubating within the warmth of chiming keys, a sultry drum beat and simmering waves of ambience. The build-up is a poignant mixture of haunting guitar, a groove-laden bass line, and marching drums, but the crescendo is an echo-chamber of guitar pedal work and splashes of cymbals. It's not the volume that increases, but the density and the distortion. Entirely spent, the ring-out of humming noise and trumpet is lilting and ephemeral.
Just like the first track, the final one, "The blind cosmonaut under the sea," has an entirely different feel, one much more overtly classical. At its core, it is a simple, but incredibly lush, piano piece. It's a pleasant and measured punctuation mark on the veritable mouthful that is LESSON3/how to live without senses.
And while we're on the subject, if this album is indeed what it is like to live without senses, then I wouldn't mind being senseless. Do yourself a favor and track this down immediately. Take notes, and let il Rumore del Fiore di Carta teach you a lesson you'll cherish.
Comments
Baton Rouge
Good stuff, Zach! I particularly enjoyed "Lost Dog in a Talk Show." I get the Album Leaf influences, too. Definitely going to pick this up.
Wait...I mean...more of the same crap from Decoy. Boo! You suck, Decoy!
Boobs
http://thenicsperiment.blogspot.com/
Fishers, Indiana
I'm glad you dig! They actually came to me and asked for a review; I would've never found out about them otherwise. Life is kinda funny like that.
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Baton Rouge
Yeah, after I bought it and put it on my Zune, I picked my wife and kid up to go to a birthday party. My wife said, "What is this?" and I was like, "il...il...I can't pronounce it!" Hope these guys continue to get buzz from this.
Also, every time the horns pop-up is a hightlight. After a couple of listens, I think "Part-time Superhero" is my favorite.
Boobs
http://thenicsperiment.blogspot.com/