COMANECI - Rob A Bank

The recent three-year release cycle of Ravenna's Comaneci was interrupted by leader Francesca Amati's return to the best album by Amycanbe, “Wolf” (2015), essentially a subtle variation on her aesthetic. Before that, “Uh!” (2012), the third full-length by Comaneci, offered in its fragmentation a patchwork of experiments: “Green Lizard”, a Bjork faded and erased by menacing drones, the electric arrangement, even sharper and more aching, of “The Fall”, the ecstatic, voiceless mantra of “The Flesh”, and the deforming closing electronics of “As A Spider”.

The fourth full-length, “Rob A Bank”, is instead a collection of odds and ends. After unfinished pieces (“I Want You All”, just a single riff, and not one of their best), lightweight ones (“Proud To Be”, a Nashville-style ballad), trial runs (“The Lake”, which shifts its coordinates from Cat Power to Lana Del Rey) or simply overarranged ones (“Questions”, rather weak, conversational in waltz time), come others that are not exactly, not fully convincing either, perhaps only better put together or just slightly more heartfelt.

Their classic rural approach to folktronica bursts out in “Lovers”, mixing stereotypes and electronic trifles (here a sort of rustle of chirping sounds looped on tape). Although just an interlude, it still serves as a fitting prelude to “Japan”, almost rhythmless, free-form in arrangement and Leonard Cohen-like in feel. It's certainly an example of their finest art. It's followed by “Magical Thoughts”, almost an ambient and post-rock meditation, and the funereal, whispered “Cocoon”, which then turns satanic and syncopated.

It would seem like an interesting reunion album devoted to essentiality, if not for the presence of Simone Cavina, drums (Junkfood, but also Arto), now officially credited in the line-up, thereby marking a historic shift from the classic Amati-Salvo duo to a trio. Not a great choice. And the reunion does carry its most typical flaws: a self-satisfied, indirect sound – with a disappointing Mattia Coletti on production – an inspiration that settles for less, even if the “Lovers”-“Japan” sequence, where the lyricists bare their claws, is admirable, and an anonymous finale of songs running out of breath. An album that needed squeezing down – an EP would have sufficed.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google

08/09/2018