Tagliaferro, Paola E Marchini, Max – “Miloni Di Lune” – [Owl Records]

Thurston Hunger   11/11/2012   A Library, CD

When you die, will you come back as a wind chime? If so, the
fragrant folk and gentle psych of this record may ring the
bell bellisima for you. Most tracks move with the soft sleepy
pace of a lullaby, Marchini’s acoustic guitars blow chords like
a warm wind at night and drop notes into the many pools of
Tagliaferro’s voice. Her voice is often multi-tracked, sometimes
to the point of upclose adoration, but other times to the
point of dissonant weirdness (I’m thinking of “Vuoti” and “Moondust”
songs replete with psych staple backwards guitar). Listening
to this album almost turned me into a faded starlet, drunk in
a diamond-studded bathtub, flickering out like the scented
candles surrounding me.?? But there are enough oddball moves
that I think can float this as a KFJC-calibre gypsy dream
and avoid the champagne room next door to the pricey art gallery.
“Deserti” has a wandering bass over echo play of voice and
guitar, following a sort of guitar in the wild intro. Field
recording, tabla, tambura drone, puffy little trumpets “Il
Tagliatore di Luce.” And listen where that piece winds up.
Paola may have once been a pin-up pop star in Italia, but
I don’t think this is just me having a Sophia Loren-infused
Antonioni appreciation, I think all the mermaids who swam
after Stellamara will dig this too. Even without the Nth+1
cover of “Song to the Siren.” Hidden bonus track too

-Thurston Hunger