[review]
Well-known in the worlds of synth pop, electronic music and dance as a producer, writer and DJ, Andrea Remondini is from Verona, Italy. With success in the UK, Italian, German, Austrian and Swiss charts, he has been at the forefront of the European scene. Having decided it was time to pour his energy into a new project, “Non Sequitur” (released May, 2014) is the result. This instrumental piece is his debut full-length CD. It displays his prowess on the keyboards and his skills as a composer and arranger, away from the confines of the Euro-pop floor filler. At just over 44 minutes, it is one uninterrupted flow of music.
Remondini has made known his admiration for Jean-Michel Jarre (the French electronic guru) and Mike Oldfield (best known for “Tubular Bells”), but he’s pursued a different path. What lies behind the cheerful face that stares out from a piece of fruit on the cover? Piano music leads us in to the unfolding ‘orchestra’ at his disposal. This maestro of the synth uses many sounds- strings, keyboards, woodwind, guitar, percussion and background vocals plus our old friend – tubular bells!
Remondini is good at adding layers gradually, like a very patient puppet master; he doesn’t rush or gild the lily too much. You easily lose yourself in it – like soaking in a warm, soapy bath, and I can’t help visualizing. It’s definitely a candidate for film score music, which is not to denigrate it in any way; it simply lends itself to images.
It’s not something to dance to, unless you favour a floaty, out of body dream dance in the privacy of your living room. “Non Sequitur” doesn’t have the drama of Oldfield or Jarre, but that’s not what he’s set out to do. This is the sound equivalent of sitting on a fluffy cloud – eating marshmallows. I kept imagining a young woman running in slow motion through a forest, wearing a paisley kaftan…but that’s just me, although sometimes, it wakes you up out of your reverie with a punchy passage, often signalled with crashing cymbals. The nice thing about this record is you kinda know which road it’s going down, but you don’t know all the little detours.
One of my favourite passages begins at 13:39, when it’s a pumping solo piano, which is then joined by percussion and synths, changing once again back to the familiar strain that re-appears throughout the piece. Also, I particularly like the kettle drum and woodwind section from 25:37, which reminded me of a spaghetti western, strangely.
Listen to it in one go, the way it was designed, and on the best sound system you possess. You can run your own video in your head, and no-one will censor you.
Listen:
Order on iTunes:
Or Amazon:
