Wednesday, December 10, 2008

foxy digitalis reviews wondrous horse

here
Double bass and piano weren’t used in the recording of this album.
Which is significant, as the list of instruments used makes up four
entire lines of the press sheet (and a considerable part of the liner
notes) and includes just about everything from theremin to Turkish saz,
from violin to shruti box and from xylophone to drum machine. While
such eclecticism isn’t always a good thing, Vanessa Rossetto and
Salvatore Borrelli (aka etre) somehow make it work: The eleven tracks
on “Cavallo Meraviglioso” are given enough room to breathe, even the
meandering eleven-minute track “Ogni intuizione Ë il tangibile segno
del declino” never gets lost on its way to bucolic bliss.


Rossetto and Borrelli hail as an Italian/American duo, but I feel that
they would sit nicely in the Finnish scene as well, what with
Rossetto’s vocals reminding me of Islaja or Kuupuu. Wondrous Horse’s
dreamy free folk really is that good. I’m particularly fond of the
gentle strumming on tracks like – wait – “Il tempo ha posato sei voci
she gridano” but this playful, yet focussed album is enjoyable from
start to finish. Ah, and Valerio Cosi appears on one of the tracks as
well: “Questi Orizzonti Scomparsi” – even their track titles sound like
music! 7/10 -- Jan-Arne Sohns (10 December, 2008)