Rose Rovine e Amanti — Demian

Not long ago I wrote a negative review of an album where I said something to the effect that Current 93 had been there, done that, and come back with more. Now we have an album that is the obverse of that: someone, namely Damian Mercuri (he of the compilation of Renaissance and Baroque guitar music I reviewed the other week), taking the whole folk-from-the-edge-of-the-world concept and doing it right.

Rose Rovine e Amanti is the name Mercuri uses when performing as a group, although it’s never in doubt that he’s the driving force behind the band. Lyrics, guitars, vocals, mandolin, keyboards, bass, percussion, samplers are all credited to him, so the “band” seems to consist of Mercuri multi-tracking, with guest musicians sitting in here and there as needed. Not that he seems to need any help: all the performances on the record are polished and professional. Mercuri’s singing is fiery and trilling, and he switches between English and Italian without losing his step (although he occasionally stumbles with his pronunciation, as when he sings “plough” as “plug”).

What’s best about the record is the level of energy on every single track, even the slower, more intimate numbers. This isn’t mopey, paint-the-windows-black stuff, even if Mercuri quotes Leonard Cohen: it’s rollicking and involving, if also decadent and anguished, and that sheer vigor allows Mercuri to sing lines like “Angel or devil / I don’t care” and make it stick. There’s barely a bad track on the record, except maybe when Mercuri veers a little closer to conventional rock territory—e.g., “Mille Serpi” [“Thousand Snakes”], which swaps some of the acoustic guitars for churning, diving Stratocaster lines. Not what I walked in the door for, but a nice textural variation all the same.

If you perked up back when I mentioned Current 93, do yourself a favour and head over to the band’s MySpace here and play a few tracks. If you like it, grab this record first, and hunt down Mercuri’s solo record as a follow-up. Let’s see where he goes with all this, shall we?