All Music Guide
Labirinto d'Acqua was a spectacular debut for Yugen, and yet Uova Fatali, the Italian avant prog ensemble's second release on the ArtrOck label, is even better. All of the music was written by mandolinist Tommaso Leddi, who a full 30 years ago was a member of Stormy Six, a founding group in the Rock in Opposition collective on the avantgarde fringe of European progressive rock. Stormy Six began in the '60s as a leftist folkrock band and it would take until 1977's L'Apprendista LP prominently featuring Leddi playing complex, angular counterpoint on violin and mandolin on tracks like "Il Barbiere" to adopt what might be deemed an "RIO sound," which now informs Uova Fatali three decades later. Despite a core ensemble of nine members plus several guests, wildly diverse instrumentation including keyboards, clarinets, soprano saxophone, mandolin, electric guitar, Mellotron, glockenspiel, violin, bodhran, oboe, flute, drums, and percussion and intricate scoring throughout, there is a li...ghtness and organic warmth to the entire project (perhaps it would be difficult to conjure up forces of darkness with crisp and sparkling glockenspiel and mandolin featured so prominently in the mix). Here Uova Fatali improves upon Labirinto d'Acqua, in which the group occasionally flirted with the impulse to become ELP. The chamber music and prog rock interludes of Labirinto d'Acqua were also sometimes separated in a way that suggested different bands sharing the same stage, but on Uova Fatali there is a unity of purpose from start to finish.A highlight is the eightplusminute "Colonia," one of the disc's most consistently grooving or at least pulsing compositions; the myriad themes and interplay between some of the disc's most overtly "jazzrock"flavored instrumentation might suggest that side of the Quebec musique actuelle scene represented by the likes of Conventum, Miriodor, and guitarist Bernard Falaise on his album Clic, but here leavened by Mediterranean flavors and textures. "Abisso" breaks into fragments, with various instrumental groupings vying for attention, but always with enough space to cast the bursts of music into bold relief. "Campo" twists and turns through folky waltz miniatures with accordion, the doublereed piffero, and a bit of en masse background group vocalizing to keep the stuffedshirt academics at bay. "Matterello" is a snappy, rocking number, half Zappa and half chamber music, followed by a lovely, understated, but occasionally spiky and unsettling trio of piano, clarinet, and violin on "Piani." After a twisted, rocking intro, the lovely "Sviluppi" settles into calmer waters, again prominently featuring piano, clarinet, and violin but the piece gathers momentum and even drama with the addition of electric instrumentation and a definite Miriodoresque compositional flair. Read more Less
