NEA Ensemble — Orizzontale

Italian art collective, NEA, has released their first combined, recorded efforts on the upcoming Orizzontale. Utilising many different art forms and expressions, the album allows each of the twelve artists to create and express themselves unrestrictedly, allowing each voice to be heard and lift the collective up. NEA believe in horizontality, eschewing hierarchies and giving each artist an equal voice, and Orizzontale presents this collective as it is meant to be heard and experienced. With a dozen artists working on their own but as a team, the album can take many different directions and forms, allowing unfettered collaboration to reign supreme.

Experimental music, performance, and visual art are the main forms of expression for the NEA Cultural Association, and the audio side of their collective gets to shine as an ensemble on Orizzontale. Spread over ten tracks, the ensemble put their performance to tape, an enigmatic ritual that encapsulates their residency leading up to this final concert. With twelve different personalities, talents, and set of inspirations at play, Orizzontale is naturally hard to pin down with simple words, but the improv performance is well held together, cohesive, and evocative. Where the loose, chaotic expression of free jazz often feels disjointed and unwieldy, NEA have some restraint to their improv, working more like a stage troupe than a musical act. This makes complete sense given their origin and mission, but sometimes eagerness and excitement can overcome intent, and Orizzontale is all the better for its steady approach. Often like a film score, the album gives the listener a great amount of freedom to enjoy and interpret, picking out interesting elements as each song progresses. With many of the twelve utilizing synthesizers, one might assume this would be a spacy, synthy epic, but that would be too obvious! Saxophones, vocal pieces, drums, and tapes all ooze from the speakers, enlivening the album and keeping it anything but predictable. Another refreshing piece of this album is all the silence or extremely quiet parts. The collective shows great restraint and commitment to their motif, their belief in horizontality keeping each member on track and in line with the performance itself, not needing to overdo their part.

Orizzontale is an intriguing performance by twelve members of the NEA Cultural Association, showing how well a group of people can work together and improv an engaging, exciting, and cohesive piece of music. The ten tracks on display here show great talent and camaraderie, their concert a testament to their art and beliefs. Often quiet and contemplative, Orizzontale mixes electronic and traditional instruments, techniques, and styles, bringing everything together into a tightly wrapped, dynamic whole. The listener may have to crank their speakers a bit at times, but it's worth it to hear all the details and care the performers put into this concert.