Like
Giuseppe Ielasi (who, incidentally, makes a guest appearance on this album),
Renato Rinaldi is exploring the tonal possibilities of free improvisation.
Hoarse Frenzy has nothing frenzied about it. On the contrary, it is a very peaceful, pastoral 40-minute improvisation. A "living room and porch" affair, it features acoustic guitar, unplugged electric guitar, piano, and harmonium, alongside the sounds of birds, creaking wood, and various objects used as delicate percussion instruments. A smooth-flowing assemblage of sections recorded separately, the piece begins outside with
Ielasi's guitar echoing the improvised folk of his wonderful Häpna release, Gesine. From there on,
Rinaldi develops a beautiful suite of folk-tinged tunes and experimental bridges. Lavish guitar instrumentals and naïve piano melodies are interspersed with textural improvisations inside the piano and harmonics performed by the Manourin String Trio, not to forget a short organ-driven song on a poem by Federico Tavan. Some sections feel slightly tentative, but this unusual form of alternating tonal and atonal along with written and improvised passages works out very well. One is reminded of
Sagor & Swing/
Eric Malmberg's suites of simple tunes and experimental interludes. The sound quality is perfect for this kind of music: good enough to keep away any hiss, true enough to retain the character of the outdoor recordings and the general intimacy of the result. One of 2005's unheralded gems and a seductive take on the American free-folk current. ~ François Couture