Originally born as a jamming project between Stefano Isaia (Movie Star Junkies, LAME) and Marco Spigariol (Vermillion Sounds, Krano), Love Trap embody the sound and spirit of relaxed DIY. Beginning life as free improvisation, Rosie is the product of the ensuing eight days of creativity in a small room above a Chinese ‘massage parlour’. Furnished only with two chairs, a broken piano, guitar and a handful of crude percussion instruments, the pair set about their art like a musical Van Gogh and Gauguin.
The album exudes a kind of confidence and joy that two established musicians can easily create when there are ‘no stakes’ involved. Already available as a digital download, the first single ‘Another Day Another Sin’ is full of fun and freedom. It has an esoteric sound a bit like Nick Cave passing the time between connections on that ill-tuned piano at Sheffield station. The track becomes almost a duet, the vocal styles as different as Lennon and McCartney. There are grander moments, too, such as ‘God Spoke To People By Name’.
Most of the time the primitive instruments are kept under control. Isaia and Spigariol capture the more melancholy aspects of life and tracks like ‘Huckleberry Finn’ are a reflection of the everyday but also a celebration of the grind and mundanity. As such the whole album is one of gentleness. ‘Rosie’ cherishes rainy afternoons in bed with a loved one but then rainy afternoons in Turin might be very different from ones here. ‘On The Corner’ is lazy Lou Reed on this more pensive and extended track. In fact, overall there is something very ‘Sunday brunch’ about this album. Portobello mushrooms on brioche, strong hangover coffee.
Even the more experimental sections are relaxed and laid-back, for instance, on ‘There She Blows’ everything is deliberately bent and twisted out of sound. By this point, voice effects have been added make the vocal seem like it’s been recorded on the other side of the door. Whilst there has been some attempt to tame the piano, the guitar still sounds like a cat wanting to be let in. The same distant vocal features on ‘When You Were 21’. This time it is dreamy and that perfunctory percussion is like sandpaper being brushed against wood. Rosie ends on ‘And I Fall Apart’. Like the title and repeated refrain, the album gradually disintegrates, like a clock falling to pieces.
It’s quite possible that the completion of this debut might have been entirely unintentional. Rosie is playful, light and mellow. So relax, heat up the griddle, let the day unfold.
Rosie will be released on 8th March 2019 through Wild Honey Records.
