Articles
Christopher Tignor
Spotlight 13

Albums
Advanced Dreams
Federico Albanese
Matthew Barlow
Bruno Bavota
Black Unicorn
Bolder
Borghi & Teager
Carla Bozulich
Chris Campbell
Colo
Deadbeat / Paul St Hilaire
Detroit Swindle
Donato Dozzy & Nuel
Yair Etziony
Lewis Fautzi
Hammock
Mark Harris
Hideyuki Hashimoto
Kodomo
Listening Mirror
Lost Trail
Lucy
Machine Code
Yann Novak
Opitope
Origamibiro
Pinkcourtesyphone
Michael Robinson
Mariano Rodriguez
Dana Ruh
Janek Schaefer
Sketches for Albinos
Jakob Skøtt
Talk West
Christopher Tignor
Wen
Scott Worthington

Compilations / Mixes
Generation Hyper
Sharam Jey

EPs / Singles
Children of the Stones
Dexima
Dexta & Hyroglifics
dock 1
Dream Weapons
Dr.Res
FFM Vol. 2 EP
Glory Club
Nightstalker EP

Federico Albanese: The Houseboat and The Moon
Denovali Records

One could write the shortest possible review of Federico Albanese's The Houseboat and the Moon by simply stating that if your taste runs to Peter Broderick, Nils Frahm, Max Richter, Dustin O'Halloran, and especially Yann Tiersen, Albanese's debut album will without question satisfy your musical appetite. But doing so would shortchange the Milan-born and Berlin-based composer, wouldn't it, and furthermore wouldn't tell you a whole lot about the splendid music presented on the release or the man himself.

Let's start, then, with Albanese's musical journey, which began with piano and clarinet studies as a child, continued on with bass and guitar studies in his teens, and eventually led to playing in several bands as part of Milan's underground scene and developing his compositional skills. After partnering in 2007 with singer-songwriter Jessica Einaudi in the project La Blanche Alchimie, Albanese channeled his energy into writing scores for films and documentaries.

Which brings us to The Houseboat and the Moon, fifty-four minutes of pretty piano-centered compositions largely free of despair. Generally classical in tone, Albanese's thirteen pieces impress on formal grounds without sounding overly stuffy or precious. Adding to the project's intimate character, he recorded all of the piano parts using a1969 German tape recorder, the Uher Royal Deluxe, and enhanced its sound with electronics, synthesizers, glockenspiel, vibes, field recordings, bells, and toy piano. While the album is largely a solo affair, cello and bassoon contributions are provided by three guest musicians.

As the preceding makes clear, Albanese is a multi-instrumentalist, and the album material includes a wealth of musical sounds. But don't get the wrong impression: while strings, percussion, electronics, and keyboards of various kinds are included, piano is the nucleus around which all other elements constellate. Representative of the album's style and tone, “Disclosed” casts a most potent spell in its entrancing blend of string melodies, graceful piano patterns, and bell tinklings; the later “Beside You” perpetuates its pretty style if a tad more ruminatively.

Certain pieces bring his more melancholy side to the fore, and it's in those moments that the album proves most affecting. One can almost see the rain falling outside one's window when forlorn settings such as “Carousel #3,” “Kato,” and “The Sudden Sympathy” fill the room. To these ears, there's only one instance when Albanese's judgment errs and that's in his decision to underlay the piano melodies in “Queen and Wonder” with an electronic beat pattern—a detail that forces his music into a too-rigid tempo; his music is at its most effective when its rhythms breathe naturally, untethered to a regulated beat. Pensive, reflective, and romantic are words that come to mind as one listens to The Houseboat and the Moon, but if only one could be used to capture the essence of its classical-electronic sound, it would have to be graceful.

March 2014