Foxy Digitalis (Dicembre 2006)
14-02-2007
In the last ten or so years, vibrant and highly productive music micro-scenes have not only evolved in Finland, Belgium and the other usual suspects. Also Italy has caught up a lot. While I´m not familiar with all the intertwinings between the different musicians and groups, it seems like two major scenes have evolved. One is located in the Torino region and is centered around My Cat is an Alien and the Opalio brothers. The other seems to have its center in the Emilia Romana region and involves people like Giuseppe Ielasi, Valerio Tricoli, Stefano Pilia, Renato Rinaldi and also drummer Andrea Belfi whose new album on Häpna is not the first from an Italian artist on that label.
Next to pursuing his solo career, Andrea Belfi also plays in the group Medves alongside the above mentioned Ielasi, Pilia, Rinaldi as well as Riccardo Wanke, and Stefano Pilia with whom Belfi had already procuded a track for the fantastic “Invisible Pyramid” compilation actually appears on this album. Another interesting connection is that Häpna labelmates 3/4 Had Been Eliminated consisting of Pilia, Claudio Rochetti, Valerio Tricoli and Tony Arrabito almost entirely play on “Between Neck and Stomach”. Before it gets really boring and the confusion of Italian names will reach its peak, one last connection has to be pointed out. Valerio Tricoli and Giueseppe Ielasi also appeared on Dean Robert´s fantastic 2003 album “Be Mine Tonight” and at this point, all the names and groups and regions come together. Because if you would want to compare the sound of Andrea Belfi´s second album, you would not be able to pass Dean Roberts and his post White Winged Moth half-improvised art-pop.
Like the music of Dean Roberts, Belfi´s tunes go deep. There´s shuffling jazz inspired drumming and there are enough sonic waves to fill the Atlantic ocean. “Between Neck and Stomach” consists of two lengthy, two short and two mid-level tracks, all of which radiate a different kind of energy. Common to all of them is that they come and go in waves, not in a new agey kind of way, but mostly due to the harmonica or accordeon present on almost every track, respectively the wailing pedal steel guitar on “Footprints”. Even at those points when the music gets rather disturbing like half way through “Extra Evil” or during the shorter “Her Own Desert”, no feelings of anxiety prevail. Rather the soothing nature of Belfi´s music always remains. What is most stunning about “Between Neck and Stomach” is that the album is both easy to listen to as well as so incredibly deep that you can probably listen to it 100 times and still discover small details that you have not heard before. 8/10
Stephan Bauer
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Andrea Belfi
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