FREDO VIOLA
The Turn
BEC5772438
Because Music 2009
12 Tracks. 45mins19secs

Buy: CD | iTunes
Stream: Spotify

Fredo Viola makes pop music like no-one else. Fearlessly rejecting traditional forms, he uses vocal layers to build songs and harmonies, but instead of relying on other people’s voices, he works with multiple instances of his own, adding line after line, variation after variation, to eventually surf on the strength of a choir of which he is the sole defining element.

Born in England, where he spent his first few years before his parents moved to Italy then, later, to New York where he still resides, Viola released his first EP, entitled The Sad Song, last year. The title track was accompanied by a video, directed by Viola, which expanded on the vocal concept by using multiple sequences of himself singing different lines. Shortly after he posted it on his myspace page, he began receiving emails from directors and film critics, and even got an offer to collaborate with Massive Attack. The EP featured three original songs plus three radically different reworkings of the title track from Prins Thomas, Roland Appel and Tunng.

The Turn first materialised at the end of 2008 as a dedicated website, where users were invited to play with shapes, each one representing a song and its accompanying video. Now released as a CD/DVD set, the CD featuring twelve songs, and the DVD eight videos, including Viola’s rather beautiful version of Silent Night, recorded with Christian Fossdal, which appeared around the time of The Sad Song on the web, the album acts as a strong showcase to Viola’s many talents. Developing further his vocal concept and applying it, at times in full, at others in much more discreet fashion, Viola has created a totally unique record here. Infused with elements of pop, folk and, occasionally almost medieval forms, supported by gentle electronic brushes propped up with more traditional guitars, drums, brass, stings or acoustic bass, Viola’s songs are often very progressive, developing from one vocal line into many, or starting as a simple pop song before bursting into something more complex.

The album opens with The Turn (A Pagan Lament), undeniably one of Viola’s strongest songs to date. Like a miniature symphony, it ebbs and flows, swells and retracts, slowly gaining momentum before finally exploding in rich and powerful vocal flourishes. Later, he creates similar effects on the luxurious Robinson Crusoe, and, to a lesser extend, on K Thru 6, Moon After Berceuse, and once again on the stunning closing Umbrellas. At the other end of the scale, Viola disarmingly simple pop songs are equally touching. Whether through the summery tones of Red States, the playful The Original Man, which heavily references his activity as an audio visual artist, or the moving drapes of Death Of A Son, the delicate melodies and vocal restraint give a chance to better appreciate Viola in his songwriter/storyteller guise. In between are pieces such as the tender Friendship Is… or Risa, or the sumptuous Puss, placed at particular points on the album to link up between the more elaborate pieces and the ones showing more temperance.

The DVD showcases Viola’s work as a video artist as he applies the principle developed on The Sad Song in a variety of ways on seven other pieces. Occasionally, he invites the viewer into the process as he is seen and heard specifying exactly which voice is placed where, while on other films, the focus is entirely on the visualisation of the music and of its emotional aspect of the work. While the simultaneous use of similar shots as originally developed on The Sad Song is also used on Test For Friendship, on the second of the two versions of The Turn, Viola’s face is super-imposed a number of times and the exposure changes according to which voice acts as the lead at any particular time.

A rather ambitious project, The Turn is also a strongly accomplished piece of work which combines audio and visual in a totally unusual way. Each part of the project can be experienced and appreciated in its own right though, putting the emphasis on the listener to choose how to appreciate it. Fredo Viola is equally at ease with music and image, and has found an effective way to combine the two, making The Turn a rather magnificent and thrilling album.

4.7/5

Fredo Viola | The Turn | Because Music
Buy: CD | iTunes
Stream: Spotify