BELLINI - Small Stones

Let's say it right away: "Small Stones" could well stand as the finest chapter in the Tilotta-Cacciola partnership, Uzeda included, and that's saying a lot given how much brilliant work they'd already produced. The Bellini story is a rocky one; after recording the album "Snowing Sun", in 2002 they're touring between Italy and the United States when, during a show in Athens, they're suddenly abandoned by drummer Demon Che (formerly of Don Caballero). Not to mention the dates cancelled in various cities due to the damage caused by Hurricane Lily.

There'd be more than enough reason to justify an artistic collapse, but the band doesn't lose heart and recruits drummer Alexis Fleisig, already known for Girls Against Boys and Soulside, who becomes a full-fledged member of the group. Fast forward to the present, with Steve Albini once again behind the console, and this "Small Stones" arrives as ten lava-flows of noise-poetry. We find Bellini in tremendous form, with a rounder, bluesier sound and a sharper focus on melody and songcraft, as shown by the stunning noise elegy "The Exact Distance To The Stars", a display of sensuality on sandpaper. But there's plenty of gentle roughness in the opening track too, "Room Number Five", where the guitar sound turns from angular to rounded, almost soft, even in its furious nature.

Fleisig's drumming manages to be cold and metronomic in its steady march; just listen to "Chaser" to believe it - this is perfect Albini-style noise, first restrained, then overflowing into a devastating change of pace, built entirely on a tight bass-drums dialogue. There's another battlefield for sonic warriors in "The Buffalo Song", while "Not Any Man" is a limping, noir-tinged ballad that folds endlessly back on itself without ever exploding; Three Mile Pilot will be grateful. Few noise bands today can boast such communicative power. Bellini are trying to humanize noise.

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30/04/2026