Frankie Sparo — Arena Hostile

Another artist on Constellation Records, another unique vision of sadness and gloom. Sometimes it makes me wonder if life really is that crappy in Montréal or it's just that these guys are on the wrong side of the tracks. This nearly 20 minutes long EP documents a European tour that Frankie Sparo did with A Silver Mt. Zion (for those unfamiliar with that group, the easiest comparison would be a downsized Godspeed You Black Emperor - it was created by some GYBE members to free themselves from the constraints of being in a large democratic ensemble if what I've read is exact). This particular performance is taken from a 2-track recording at VPRO radio in Amsterdam, The Netherlands (home of this website's webmaster! too bad he probably missed that show...).

What's special about that performance and made it definitely deserve to be released on disc is that Mr. Sparo is backed by the musicians of A Silver Mt. Zion and they created new arrangements for songs from his debut. There is also the fact that he was sick with the flu, had little sleep the night before because, in part, of the hostility of the inhospitable Amsterdam arena hotel where he stayed (hence the title of the EP).

"Diminish me NYC" opens the album with very minimalistic electronics, violin and the voice that makes this record special; Frankie's hoarse "I smoke 10 packs a day like Leonard Cohen" mumbling and hallucinatory state (as documented in the Constellation documentation) really adds to the atmosphere which, even if I can't exactly describe it, really works and make the record fragile, naked, vulnerable and on the edge of crumbling down under it's own emotional weight.

The next track is probably my favourite of the album and since I can't describe it better than Constellation, I'll quote them here: "'The Night that We Stayed in' is anchored by a walking double bass line, punctuated by dual violin phrases, turning the song into and even smokier affair". As for "Here comes the future", it is another great track although the 'handclapping' in the first part of it sounds a little out of place to me - nothing severe and it's excused at least ten times by the other half of the song which is very nice.

The album ends with a cover of the Rolling Stones' "I am Waiting" played by Frankie alone with his guitar. Here we can hear him being a little more playful than usual and yet this song fits with the rest of the disc.

This is really a class act and a memorable performance, highly recommended for late night listening.

release dates:
europe - august 28, 2001
north america - september 10, 2001