** Jacob Rigby, 04/11/2006, HARMONIUM
"It seems the Opalio Brothers have been unable to do
wrong lately. From either of their solo outlets to their work together
as My Cat is an Alien they have put out a fantastic string of outsider
drone/noise music.
The latest solo effort from Roberto, The Last Night of the Angel of Glass,
has been released by Foxglove as a cd-r and dvd-r in a limited print of
100 copies. This is surely a piece all fans of the brothers will want
to get their hands on. The initial pressing is already sold out, so the
price to acquire one may be a bit steep but worth every penny.
On this recording, Roberto Opalio works alone, recording this 45+ minute
set live on the back porch of his Torino, Italy home in December 2005.
Consisting of Roberto's wordless vocal chants and celestial guitar drones,
The Last Night of the Angel of Glass is a sparse recording. It starts
off with the vocals dominating the sound as they oscillate and echo off
of each other creating a hypnotic effect. More and more layers of dissonant
vocals are spliced up and piled on top of each other til about the ten-minute
mark when they drop out leaving a throbbing drone.
As this second section of the piece progresses more vocals are added but
unlike the first section the dissonance is resolved for a moment and results
in the most beautiful section of the piece. For the second half of the
piece the vocals are mostly non-existent and in their place there are
more dissonant sonar pings over the top of the same pulsing drone that
appeared around the ten-minute mark. This pulsing drone eventually fades
out and the album closes with the cosmic bleeps of Roberto's guitar.
This recording seems all the more impressive when taking into account
there are no overdubs or outtakes of any kind. The seamless transitions
between the different sections belie the improvised nature of the recording.[..]Hopefully
the next time a limited release such as this comes along I'll be quick
enough to grab a copy before they sell out."
** by Tom Sekowski, April 2007, GAZ-ETA (PL)
"Recorded as usual with no overdubs, no outtakes, one
half of My Cat is an Alien, Roberto Opalio plays electric astral guitar,
space toys, alientronics and shares in a fair amount of his vocals. Volume
I of this 2 CD set was already issued by Foxglove as a limited edition
CD-R/DVD-R. The release was meant as a soundtrack to Opalio's film. Disc
one is made up of 46 minute long slab of audio material that features
large doses of Opalio's vocals. These are processed and covered up to
make them sound like one of the instruments he's playing. His ever present
astral guitar makes meandering segways through the piece and comes flying
in and out of audible range. Midway through the piece, Opalio's voice
sounds like a huge choral section reciting a mantra. The sameness of this
part deserves an honourable mention as these voices make me think of aliens
screaming. With gentle tickling on the toy piano, the last fifteen minutes
of the piece are nothing but anti-climactic. Not surprising, this is another
very coherent piece from this Italian space traveler.
A gently ticking keyboard begins Vol. II. Opalio starts to annunciate
some incoherent phrases and sections of words that don't amount to very
much. Only about ten minutes into the piece, just as Opalio's voice starts
to resemble a tortured cat, does the piece pick up in intensity. A wad
of electronic toys and that lovely astral guitar make for a gurgling noise
that continues to caress the ears for a few minutes. The tempo and pitch
grow proportionately and the music falls into the far-out space category
for about ten minutes or so. As if to announce, "ladies and gentlemen,
we've just successfully cleared the asteroid field", music calms
down and Opalio reverts back to his choral section. I swear there are
moments when he starts to resemble the vocal machinations of an earlier
Robert Wyatt. Guitar starts to be reminiscent of falling space junk and
the space toys sound like seagulls. All is well in the universe once again.
Soothing and entirely exciting, this is the sort of music I'd like to
tag along for my first journey in space."
** Steve Pescott, March 2007, TERRASCOPE (UK)
"Using just voice and guitar, Robert Opalio has
crafted a swirling, drifting soundscape on "The Last Night Of The
Angel Of Glass Vol. 1&2". Recorded in one take, the music has
an energy of its own, creating a magical invocation as it changes the
very room in which it is playing, demanding to be heard. Vol. 1 was originally
released as the soundtrack to one of Roberts own films, whilst part 2
is previously unreleased."
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