Damo Suzuki's Network feat. Manuel Agnelli

Damo Suzuki is a Japanese singer who secured his place in history for having been part of the core lineup of Can, the extraordinary German kraut-rock band, across four landmark albums released between 1970 and 1973. Having withdrawn from the scene for reasons tied to a religious conversion, he only returned to the stage ten years later, and shortly after that launched a singular project of musical wandering, which still continues today.

Suzuki is constantly touring the world, and in each country he passes through he joins forces and ideas with local musicians, giving rise to unpredictable, off-the-cuff fusions. Over time, this web of collaborations has created a worldwide Network that takes its name from its very creator.

Damo made a stop in Italy for four dates, choosing to join four leading figures of the Italian scene who certainly need no introduction: Manuel Agnelli on keyboards, Xabier Iriondo on guitar, Enrico Gabrielli on horns, and Cristiano Calcagnile on drums.

The goal is to stage a genuine jam session, in which improvisation, experimentation and avant-garde spirit reign supreme, and one gets to witness the triumph of the Japanese artist's creed, aptly dubbed "instant composition".

The four Italian musicians know each other inside out, which makes the task considerably easier: it only takes a glance for each of them to know exactly where things are heading. What emerges is a creativity so overflowing that it couldn't easily be contained within any conventionally understood band.

It's heartening to witness the knowing smiles exchanged between Manuel and Xabier, two of the most important musical figures of the last twenty years, who since last summer have been crossing paths repeatedly, first on a summer tour that saw the guitarist as a permanent guest on stage with Afterhours, in a kind of homecoming welcomed by fans and critics alike, and now in this new, formidable experiment. Could a definitive reunion be in the air?

Gabrielli, another former member of the Milanese band, has lately managed to have a hand in every most interesting thing happening on the national independent scene, and continues to never get it wrong.

Tonight there's no such thing as the song format in its canonical sense, but rather a free form that can take its cue from a hiss in Suzuki's voice, a note from Gabrielli's sax, or noises deliberately generated by Iriondo. By using everyday objects or tools (a dish-washing sponge or glass marbles, just to give a couple of examples), Xabier acts on the strings of his upright guitar to produce unthinkable sounds, steering everything with the help of numerous effects that pique the curiosity of six-string aficionados.

Almost always, all the other instruments gradually graft themselves onto the initial circular improvisation, in an emotional crescendo of rare intensity, driven by Suzuki's voice as it tirelessly climbs the daring scenarios sketched out by the band. It's all held together by Calcagnile's syncopated drumming, clearly jazzy in inspiration, and by the hyper-vintage keyboards manned by Agnelli — a red Stage Eighty Eight in particular, fitted out with suitable effects.

Everything proceeds magnificently without a single hitch, with the five on stage avoiding any predefined goals and leaving the door open to any unforeseen development. And if, in fact, there were some kind of script agreed upon beforehand, well, we like the fact that the secret isn't given away.

After a little over an hour of collective ecstasy verging on avant-garde delirium, you head home with the urge to pick up your own instrument and attempt a thousand new experiments.

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