Comaneci – You a Lie
This is something of a surprise find; a band from Ravenna in Italy named after a Romanian gymnast. They are nothing like the band called Comanechi who played in Edinburgh the other day either. Where that band were described by Nick from Sneaky Pete’s as “a tiny Japanese girl screaming and drumming plus a seven foot beanpole in a wooly sweater playing sabbath riffs across two amps”, this is a very still kind of indie-folk which wouldn’t say boo to a goose.
It’s based around the twin treats of Francesca Amati’s gorgeous vocal and Glauco Salvo’s barely-played-at-all electric guitar, giving it just a little of the mood of early Portishead, and maybe a touch of the likes of Mazzy Star as well. There are other elements added too – a tiny amount of picking on an acoustic guitar, a little banjo here and there, and I think I heard some cello at one point as well, but there’s really not very much of that, as the arrangements are kept to a bare minimum.
I have to confess I always admire groups with that sort of instrumentation at their disposal and who show the restraint to use it so very little. I was going to say that it seems to demonstrate a certain confidence, but then Comaneci are no raw debutants so I don’t want to be condescending. Their first self-released EP came in 2004, and they have since released another EP, and album and worked on a movie soundtrack, so they know what they’re doing by this stage.
A whole album of slowly teased electric guitar and thick, hypnotic female vocals could get a bit dull after a while, but this is where the extra instrumentation is so well deployed. It may barely be there, but it is used extremely cleverly to break through the prevailing atmosphere and subtly shift the feeling of the album at just the right times. It would be wrong to say that it changes the pace or texture of the music all that much, but it does give the album the variation it needs.
I went through a spell of hearing from plenty of groups from Italy I almost liked enough to post, a year or two ago, but I’ve not heard anything from there for a while now. There are maybe a couple of songs where the actual tune itself could do with a little more dynamism on this album, but for the most part I really like it – a very pleasant surprise indeed.
Comaneci – A Pair of Glasses
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the files wont work for me.
No they don’t work for me either
Me either.
Rubbish.
I’m listening on myspace.
It’s really good.
Sorry, my fault, I linked to where the files were going and then forgot to actually upload them. Should be sorted now.
You’re a clown with a cunt for a hat, Matthew.
Sadly, that’s far less funny in fact than it is in your head.
I think it’s brilliant.
jesus
i really like the music but ive never been into the little toddler voice thing that some girls do.
I thought it was funny because the post implied that Matthew was a cunt because of his poor choice of ‘hat’.
I don’t know what sort of hat Matthew usually wears but given his usual mix of indie kid and bin dipper there is a possibility that his hat doesn’t do him justice.
Also on the subject of the music:
Toddler voice can be a bit off putting but, I think they make it work here.
I actually find it more off putting when they repeat the same phrase over and over again. When these songs move they are fantastic.
I never wear hats.
Of you course not, Matthew, because you’re just not a hat kind of guy!
No. No I’m not. Those are someone else.
I really don’t like this.
please, i cant find the lyrics to this album on internet anywhere…can you help me? THANK U